Federal judge bars USA from removing legal residents detained at Dulles
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 31, 2017
As border agents and airlines begin the implementation of President Donald J. Trump's January 27 executive order placing a temporary immigration ban on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority counties, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Attorney General Mark Herring stopped at Dulles Airport this afternoon to join the criticism of the action.
Customs and Border Patrol agents ignored the orders of federal judges who said Donald Trump's travel bans are unenforceable, members of congress and civil rights attorneys said. There are several problems with this order, but the most obvious was that it included immigrants who have been granted Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status and can live and work freely in America - a group commonly known as green-card holders.
The order came shortly after a judge in NY granted a temporary stay preventing refugees entering the United States from being deported.
Trump's executive order signed Friday bans the entry of individuals from certain countries as immigrants and non-immigrants for 90 days.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam said the order will hurt innocent people.
"I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America", he said. Nationals of those seven countries traveling to the US the day after the order was signed faced uncertainty about whether they would be allowed entry to the country.
Northam further said the order is a threat to Virginia and to national security because it ignores the contributions and sacrifices of Muslims who have served in the USA military. Virginia is home to bases for all four branches of the military. They have American jobs, often have American spouses, and are fully embedded in our country's life.
Most Virginia Republican leaders have refrained from issuing public statements regarding Trump's order.
Stewart recently pushed his fellow supervisors January 24 to draft a letter to the Trump administration asking the whereabouts of about 7,500 undocumented immigrants arrested in Prince William over the last several years.
While the ban has left some families feeling hopeless, one local attorney in Owings Mills is doing everything she can to deliver answers.
