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Judge Ann M. Donnelly
United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York
Born 1959 in Royal Oak, MI
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Nominated by Barack Obama on January 7, 2015, to a seat vacated by
Sandra L. Townes. Confirmed by the Senate on October 20, 2015, and
received commission on October 21, 2015.
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A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York issued an emergency stay
Saturday night that temporarily blocks the U.S. government from sending
people out of the country after they have landed at a U.S. airport with
valid visas.
The order barred U.S. border agents from removing
anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from Iraq, Syria, Iran,
Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It also covered anyone with an
approved refugee application. The Department of Homeland Security said
that more than 170 people were denied entry to the U.S. as of Saturday
night, according to Reuters.
The ruling by Judge Ann Donnelly of
the U.S. District Courtfor the Eastern District of New York came during a
hearing called after President Donald Trump issued an executive order
blocking people from seven Muslim-majority from entering the United
States and putting a temporary halt to refugee admissions
Twelve
refugees were detained at JFK Airport within hours of Trump's order
restricting immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations -- but two
were released later in the day -- as hundreds of protesters continued to
amass at the busy airport throughout the day and into the evening.
One
of the Iraqis, Hameed Jhalid Darweesh, 53, was released by midday
Saturday. “I suffered to move here, to get my family here …. I can’t go
back,” Darweesh said shortly after his release, according to the New
York Post. Asked if he’d be killed in Iraq, he answered: “Yes, yes.”
Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Army interpreter in Iraq, had been
stopped as he traveled with his wife and three kids when agents pulled him aside, according to the New York Times.
The
other Iraqi detainee, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, 33, was
released at about 6:30 p.m. The fate of 10 other refugees, whose
nationalities were not immediately known, is unclear.
Reps.
Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) announced
the number of refugees held at the airport. “This should not happen in
America. We shouldn’t have to demand the release of refugees one by
one,” the two members of Congress said in a statement.
"They have
been detained illegally. I am begging you to go and revisit this. It's
ill-advised, it's mean spirited," said Velazquez, during a press
conference.
Meanwhile, the National Immigration Law Center and other civil liberties organizations have
filed a
suit in federal court in New York on behalf of the two Iraqi men that
seeks to certify the case as a class-action on behalf of other who
organizers claim have been detained illegally. Karen Tumlin, legal
director at the NILC, issued the following statement:
“Trump’s
order keeps some of the world’s most vulnerable people in life
threatening danger. ... Many refugees like our client risked their lives
to help the United States government. The fact that the government has
now decided to turn its back on those who served and protected us isn’t
just unconscionable. It’s unconstitutional.”
Virginia Governor
Terry McAuliffe (D) held an afternoon press conference in response to
Trump's actions to say that we "cannot tolerate this type of activity."
The White House moved Saturday to defend the president’s refugee order, saying Muslims are not being targeted.
“The notion that this is a ‘Muslim ban’ is ludicrous,” a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News.
Other
travelers were being stopped from boarding U.S.-bound flights at
overseas airports as the Trump refugee ban went into effect Friday
night.
Trump on Friday suspended refugee admissions for four
months and indefinitely banned those from war-torn Syria, pending
program changes that are to ensure refugees won't harm national
security.
A U.S. federal law enforcement official says any
non-U.S. citizen from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen
is now barred from entering the United States.
That covers legal
permanent residents -- green card holders -- and visa-holders from those
seven countries who are out of the United States after Friday, when
President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the temporary ban.
They cannot return to the U.S. for 90 days.
The official says
there's an exemption for immigrants and legal permanent residents whose
entry is in the U.S. national interest, but it's unclear how that
exemption will be applied.
The official says visa and green card
holders already in the U.S. will be allowed to stay. The official wasn't
authorized to publicly discuss the details of how Trump's order is
being put in place and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Customs
and Border Protection is notifying airlines about passengers whose
visas had been canceled or legal residents scheduled to fly back to the
U.S., and the airlines are being told to keep them off those flights.
The order also imposes a temporary ban on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Sudan and Yemen.
The lawyers said custom agents wouldn’t let them meet with their clients who they said had valid visas to enter the U.S.
“Who is the person we need to talk to?” asked Mark Doss, a lawyer with the International Refugee Assistance Project.
“Mr. President,” the paper quoted a customs agent as responding. “Call Mr. Trump.”
“President Trump's war on equality is already taking a terrible human toll. This ban cannot be allowed to continue,”
the group's Omar Jadwat said.
In
Cairo, airport officials prevented seven U.S.-bound migrants -- six
from Iraq and one from Yemen -- from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New
York.
The officials said the seven migrants, escorted by officials
from the U.N. refugee agency, were stopped from boarding the plane
after authorities at Cairo airport contacted their counterparts at JFK.
Qatar
Airways told passengers bound for the U.S. from the seven newly banned
majority Muslim countries that they need to have either a U.S. green
card or diplomatic visa to travel.
A statement on the company's
website says: "Nationals of the following countries: Sudan, Libya,
Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen ... may travel to the U.S. only if
they are in possession of a permanent resident card (Green card) or any
of the below visas."
It listed foreign government, United Nations, international organization and NATO visas.
Late
Friday, the International Rescue Committee called Trump's suspension of
the U.S. refugee resettlement program a "harmful and hasty" decision.
The group’s president David Miliband said, "America must remain true to its core values. America must remain a beacon of hope."
He
said the U.S. vetting process for prospective refugees is already
robust -- involving biometric screening and up to 36 months of vetting
by "12 to 15 government agencies."
“This is no time for America to turn its back on people ready to become patriotic Americans,” he said.