The most controversial aspect of the first week of Donald Trump in the White House has been his executive order banning Muslim refugees from entering the United States. After a lawsuit was filed, a federal judge has made a major decision.
Trump hit back
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that restricted entry into the United States from select Muslims countries in the Middle East.
On Saturday morning, Kennedy International Airport in New York detained multiple people while following through with the aforementioned executive order. Two of the detainees were from Iraq, with one having previously worked for the United States government as a contractor overseas. The two men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq, contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and filed a lawsuit against Trump and the White House. As reported by Mother Jones on January 28, a federal judge has pushed back against the executive order.
Dale Ho, the director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, took to his offical Twitter account to announce the news.
"We won," Ho tweeted, while confirming, "Stay is national." In addition, Jackie Vimo of the National Immigration Law Center quoted the judge on her own Twitter feed.
"Judge: I don't think it's unduly burdensome to ask for a list....nobody is being removed under this class," the first tweet read. In a follow-up message, Vimo quoted the judge once again, writing, "The whole point of this hearing is to preserve the status quo. If this had been two days ago we wouldn't be here." In the short-term, it appears like a victory for those opposing the Muslim ban, but it's unknown how long it will last.
Next up
The last 24 hours have turned American politics upside down. Protests took place on Saturday once the news broke of airports detaining immigrants returning from the Middle East, as social media exploded in opposition.
As of press time, Donald Trump and the White House have not yet responded to the judge's stay, though it's expected that a statement will be released shortly. Hours before the judge's announcement, Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office, and said everything was going "very nicely" in regards to his executive order.