UPDATE RE: REFUGEES, LEGAL PERMANENT RESIDENTS, AND TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER REGARDING REFUGEES.
Yesterday, I wrote regarding the Executive Order regarding Refugees and Visa holds from certain Middle East countries. I mentioned in that piece, and subsequently on social media, that the language of the order was vague as to a few important points. Namely, what about CURRENT visa holders, refugees, and Legal Permanent Residents from the list of 7 countries. Would those people be stopped at the boarder as well? I said I didn’t think so.
I was wrong. DHS has determined that any non US Citizen with those countries as their place of birth will categorically be stopped at the boarder and denied admission to the US. That includes Legal Permanent Residents. The blanket logic is anyone from those lands is deemed a national security threat until a vetting process can determine otherwise. Even then, the vetting couldn’t allow entrance before the 90 day waiting period has ended.
The photo above is of Hameed Khalid Darweesh. He is an Iraqi who openly worked with the United States over the past 10 years in Iraq. His wife and family have been in the US for years. He had been given a Visa and has a long history of working with the US in order to secure Iraq. He left on his plane thinking he would have no problem when he landed. Mid-air, the order came into full effect and he was detained and was being prepped to be sent back to Iraq. He was just recently released. I don’t know why. The other man travelling with him is still detained as of the writing of this piece.
Any people born from the 7 countries named on the list, who are not US Citizens, SHOULD NOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY if they want to get back in. (This is not offered as legal advice. Its just good advice).
This is unprecedented to deny entry to valid Visa holders and Legal Permanent Residents entry to the US based simply on National Origin.
Something like this hasn’t happened since Japanese internment.
Shout out to Camille J. Mackler for the photo and the reporting on this topic.
