A federal judge in New York has issued an emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly issued the order Saturday evening after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people who were detained at airports across the country as the ban took effect.

Cheers broke out in a crowd of demonstrators outside a Brooklyn courthouse as the decision, effective nationwide, was announced.

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.

It was unclear how quickly the order might affect people in detention.

Click here for the complete story from WHYY Newsworks </s> U.S. judge allows travelers who landed with visas to stay in country

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York issued an emergency stay on Saturday 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 American Civil Liberties Union estimates the stay will affect 100 to 200 people detained at U.S. airports or in transit, but government lawyers could not confirm that number.

The ruling by Judge Ann Donnelly of the U.S. District Court for 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. (Reporting by Mica Rosenburg, Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Nick Zieminski) </s> A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York issued an emergency stay on Saturday that temporarily blocks the US government from sending people out of the country after they have landed at a US airport with valid visas.

The American Civil Liberties Union estimates the stay will affect 100 to 200 people detained at US airports or in transit, but government lawyers could not confirm that number.

The ruling by Judge Ann Donnelly of the US District Court for 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. </s> NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has barred the U.S. from deporting travelers with valid visas covered by President Trump’s executive order.

The federal judge, in Brooklyn, issued an emergency stay on Saturday. It temporarily prevents the U.S. government from sending people out of the U.S. after they landed with valid vises at U.S. airports, Reuters reported.

The stay will affect between 100 and 200 people who are in transit or detained, the American Civil Liberties Union estimated. Government lawyers, however, couldn’t confirm the figure, according to Reuters.

Judge Ann Donnelly made the ruling on Saturday, a day after Mr. Trump signed an executive order that changed American immigration and refugee policies. The order banned people from seven countries with Muslim majorities from entering the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security has not seen the judge’s order issuing an injunction and therefore could not say how it will change how they implement the president’s orders tomorrow, CBS News’ Paula Reid reported. </s> NEW YORK - A federal judge has granted an emergency stay to allow travel detainees with valid visas to remain in the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union went to court following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries for the next 90 days.

The district judge in Brooklyn sided with the ACLU, blocking part of the order that has kept refugees, immigrants and others in limbo at airports across the U.S.

The ruling stopped short of allowing all refugees and immigrants in -- just those who have arrived in the U.S. already and those who are in transit with valid visas to enter the U.S.

“We jumped into court, arguing that the accord was unconstitutional, that it was un-American, and that it flew in the face of established statutes that we have long regarded in this country,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said on Facebook.

The team of lawyers convinced the judge to hold all of the movements and efforts to deport individuals who have lawfully come into the country, including immigrants with green cards or those with visas, he said.

“The courts can work,” Romero added. “When President Trump enacts laws or executive orders that are unconstitutional and illegal, the courts are there to defend everyone’s right.”

Warning: This video may contain language that is not suitable for all agesACLU succeeds in blocking parts of executive order banning immigrants </s> After an emergency hearing in Brooklyn tonight, a federal judge put a stay on Trump's executive order banning people from 7 primarily Muslim countries from entering the country.

US District Judge Ann Donnelly issued the stay after holding the first hearing on a challenge to the order. Further proceedings in the case challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s order are set for February. The lawsuit was brought early Saturday on behalf of Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, two men detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport for several hours after their arrival at the airport in the wake of Trump’s signing of the ban. In addition to the two men, however, the group of lawyers backing the men also filed a motion to turn the lawsuit into a class action, which could result in protection for all of those who would be covered by the class. Later, they sought immediate action, filing a request that the court issue a stay of removal — an order preventing deportation — not only for the two men, but for the entire proposed class.

Lawyers have rushed to airports all over the country to file writs of habeas corpus for detained people from those countries, all of whom held valid visas.

In the judge's order, she found that "there is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations subject to the January 27, 2017 Executive Order."

The judge then ordered that the government was restrained from "removing individuals with refugee applications approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas, and other individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen legally authorized to enter the United States."

This is just the first step, of course. It doesn't invalidate the order, but it does stop the enforcement of it for the time being. There are some lawyers arguing that it's limited to those en route to the country only (detained in airports, etc), but I'm unclear on their reasoning for that and will update with any more information as I find it.

There will be more arguments on the constitutionality of the order as a whole, but for people who were barred from traveling and detained at airports, it's certainly a relief.

Update: A second stay has been granted by a different judge in Virginia staying a ban on those who hold green cards </s> President Donald Trump signs an executive order on extreme vetting during an event at the Pentagon in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

By The Associated Press

A federal judge issued an emergency order Saturday night temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban, saying travelers who had been detained had a strong argument that their legal rights had been violated.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement early Sunday that said the court order would not affect the overall implementation of the White House order and the court order affected a small number of travelers who were inconvenienced by security procedures upon their return.

"President Trump's Executive Orders remain in place_prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety," according to the DHS statement. Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the White House, said: "Nothing in the Brooklyn judge's order in anyway impedes or prevents the implementation of the president's executive order which remains in full, complete and total effect."

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued the emergency order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations who were detained at airports across the country as the ban took effect.

The judge's order addressed only a portion of Trump's executive action. As the decision was announced, cheers broke out in crowds of demonstrators who had gathered at American airports and outside the Brooklyn courthouse where the ruling was issued.

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.

It was unclear how quickly the judge's order might affect people in detention, or whether it would allow others to resume flying. The White House said the court ruling affected a small number of people who had boarded planes before the White House order was issued.

Homeland Security said those travelers "were inconvenienced while enhanced security measures were implemented. These individuals went through enhanced security screenings and are being processed for entry to the United States, consistent with our immigration laws and judicial orders."

But the detention of the travelers caused a great deal of confusion.

"Realistically, we don't even know if people are going to be allowed onto the planes," said ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt. "This order would protect people who they allow to come here and reach U.S. soil."

Under Trump's order, it had appeared that an untold number of foreign-born U.S. residents now traveling outside the U.S. could be stuck overseas for at least 90 days even though they held permanent residency "green cards" or other visas. However, an official with the Department of Homeland Security said Saturday night that no green-card holders from the seven countries cited in Trump's order had been prevented from entering the U.S.

Some foreign nationals who were allowed to board flights before the order was signed Friday had been detained at U.S. airports, told they were no longer welcome. The DHS official who briefed reporters by phone said 109 people who were in transit on airplanes had been denied entry and 173 had not been allowed to get on their planes overseas.

In her three-page order, Donnelly wrote that without the stay "there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders and other individuals from nations subject to the Jan. 27, 2017, executive order."

Trump billed his sweeping executive order as a necessary step to stop "radical Islamic terrorists" from coming to the U.S. It included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen and a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program.

Trump's order singled out Syrians for the most aggressive ban, indefinitely blocking entry for anyone from that country, including those fleeing civil war.

The directive did not do anything to prevent attacks from homegrown extremists who were already in America, a primary concern of federal law enforcement officials. It also omitted Saudi Arabia, home to most of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

As a candidate Trump pledged to temporarily ban Muslims from coming to the U.S., then said he would implement "extreme vetting" for people from countries with significant terror concerns. He told reporters Saturday the order is "not a Muslim ban."

"It's working out very nicely," Trump said of the implementation of his order. "We're going to have a very, very strict ban and we're going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years."

The order sparked protests at several of the nation's international airports, including New York's Kennedy and Chicago's O'Hare and facilities in Minneapolis and Dallas-Fort Worth. In San Francisco, hundreds blocked the street outside the arrival area of the international terminal. Several dozen demonstrated at the airport in Portland, Oregon, briefly disrupting light rail service while hoisting signs that read "Portland Coffee Is From Yemen" and chanting anti-Trump slogans. U.S. lawmakers and officials around the globe also criticized the move.

Two of the first people blocked from entering the United States were Iraqis with links to the U.S. military. Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi were detained by immigration officials after landing at New York's Kennedy airport Friday night. Both had been released by Saturday night after their lawyers intervened.

The government can exempt foreign nationals from the ban if their entry is deemed in the national interest. But it was not immediately clear how that exemption might be applied.

Diplomats from the seven countries singled out by Trump's order would still be allowed into the U.S.

Those already in the U.S. with a visa or green card would be allowed to stay, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the details of how Trump's order was being put in place and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Trump's order also directed U.S. officials to review information as needed to fully vet foreigners asking to come to the U.S. and draft a list of countries that don't provide that information. That left open the possibility that citizens of other countries could also face a travel ban.

The U.S. may still admit refugees on a case-by-case basis during the freeze, and the government would continue to process requests from people claiming religious persecution, "provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it would challenge the constitutionality of Trump's order.

"There is no evidence that refugees — the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation — are a threat to national security," said Lena F. Masri, the group's national litigation director. "This is an order that is based on bigotry, not reality."

John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism official who worked under Democratic and Republican administrations, said the order didn't address America's "primary terrorism-related threat" — people already in the U.S. who become inspired by what they see on the internet.

Trump's order drew support from some Republican lawmakers who have urged more security measures for the refugee vetting program, particularly for those from Syria.

It is unclear how many people would be immediately impacted by the non-refugee travel ban. According to the statistics maintained by the Homeland Security Department, about 17,000 students from the seven designated countries were allowed into the U.S. for the 2015-2016 school year. In 2015 more than 86,000 people from those countries arrived in the U.S. on other, non-immigrant visas and more than 52,000 others became legal permanent residents.

Last year the U.S. resettled 85,000 people displaced by war, political oppression, hunger and religious prejudice, including more than 12,000 Syrians. Before leaving office President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would accept 110,000 refugees in the coming year, but Trump's order cut that by more than half to 50,000. </s> PALM BEACH, Fla. — U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at “this so-called judge” who put a nationwide hold on his executive order denying entry to the U.S. to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ruling set in motion another weekend of confusion and chaos around the country.

The White House pledged to swiftly appeal the federal judge’s ruling late Friday, but that didn’t appear to be enough for Trump, who vented his frustrations on Twitter.

“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump said.

Trump has said the travel ban, which he enacted by executive order on Jan. 27, will keep Americans safe by keeping potential terrorists from entering the country.

He also said Saturday on Twitter that “when a country is no longer able to say who can and who cannot come in & out, especially for reasons of safety & security — big trouble!”

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled late Friday against government lawyers’ claims that Washington state and Minnesota, which sued over the ban, lacked the legal grounds to challenge Trump’s order. Robart said the states showed that their case was likely to succeed.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the “outrageous” order “at the earliest possible time. Spicer quickly issued an amended statement that deleted ”outrageous.“

“The president’s order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people,” Spicer said, calling the order both lawful and appropriate.

Trump billed the action as necessary to stop “radical Islamic terrorists” from coming to the U.S.

The order included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program, and an indefinite bar against admitting Syrian refugees.

The decision sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travellers were detained. More protests were planned for this weekend, including at Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from the seven countries who were detained at airports nationwide as the ban took effect.

Donnelly’s order addressed only a portion of Trump’s order, and barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from the seven countries. Robart’s decision was more sweeping in scope.

Saturday was not the first instance of Trump criticizing a federal judge, a member of an independent branch of the government.

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the federal judge who was presiding over a lawsuit brought by former students of Trump University. Trump claimed that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in Indiana, had an “absolute conflict” in handling the case because he is “of Mexican heritage.” Trump launched his presidential campaign with a harsh description of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

Trump recently agreed to pay $25 million to settle the lawsuits against Trump University. </s> The Supreme Court partially reinstated President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from six Muslim-majority nations in June.

The revised ban is expected to be fully implemented around July 12.

The nation’s highest court agreed in June to take up the case and hear arguments in October.

Since Trump signed the executive order in January, the travel ban has been widely blocked by lower courts. Trump revised the order in March, and it too was blocked.

Here’s a look at the past decisions on the executive order.

Trump signed an executive order immediately barring entry into the U.S. for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The order, dubbed “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” also halted the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, but indefinitely barred all Syrian refugees from the country.

A federal judge in New York issued an emergency order blocking, in part, the executive order. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly’s order temporarily barred the U.S. from deporting people who arrived with a valid visa or already completed refugee application.

As dozens of people were detained after their planes landed in the U.S., massive protests erupted at airports nationwide.

Two federal judges in Boston issued a temporary stay on the travel ban, putting on hold for seven days the enforcement of the executive order.

The ruling stipulated that previously approved refugees, valid visa holders and lawful permanent residents or travelers from the seven countries included in Trump’s order could not be detained or removed from the U.S. because of the executive order.

Senate Republicans squashed an effort by Democrats to overturn Trump’s executive order. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought to bring a vote to reverse the order.

A Boston federal judged declined to extend a temporary injunction against the travel ban, leaving it in effect after the initial seven-day period ended on Feb. 5, pending appeal.

WHO ARE THE THREE JUDGES WHO HEARD ARGUMENTS ON TRUMP TRAVEL BAN?

But U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle temporarily blocked the travel ban nationwide after Washington state and Minnesota urged a nationwide hold on the executive order. Robart said the state “met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury.”

The Justice Department filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, imploring that the court reinstate Trump’s travel ban. The department said Robart’s ruling was “vastly overbroad.”

Sixteen state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit against the travel ban. Those states included: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

FEDERAL JUDGE IN DC DECLINES TO ACT ON TRUMP TRAVEL BAN

Nearly 100 tech companies, including Apple and Google, also filed an amicus brief in opposition to the ban.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals began to hear oral arguments from the Justice Department as well as lawyers from the states of Washington and Minnesota who opposed the ban.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to uphold the suspension of the executive order.

Those judges were Michelle Friedland, appointed by former President Barack Obama; Richard Clifton, appointed by former President George W. Bush; and William Canby, appointed by former President Jimmy Carter.

Kellyanne Conway, a top advisor to the president, told Fox News that the court ruling “does not affect the merits at all” of the executive order.

“We are fully confident now that we will get our day in court and have the opportunity to argue on the merits, that we will prevail,” she said.

A federal judge granted an injunction blocking the travel ban from being implemented in Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema found an unconstitutional religious bias with the travel ban, thus violating the First Amendment.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Washington and Minnesota argued that their case against the executive order should proceed in lower court. The Justice Department argued in its own filing for a moratorium on the case until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decides if a full court will review the case.

Later in the afternoon, a federal judge in Seattle ruled that the case could continue in lower court.

Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Trump’s executive order and asked the court to reconsider its decision to block the travel ban.

Trump signed a new executive order which barred travel from six predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days— removing Iraq.

The new order also exempted permanent residents and current visa holders from the travel ban.

It also did not include language that could allow for those of a certain religion to get preferential treatment, the New York Times reported.

Syrian refugees were still banned in the new executive order but only for 120 days instead of indefinitely.

The state of Hawaii moved to block the new executive order in court. The state’s attorney general, Doug Chin, said the travel ban would be detrimental to the state’s economy and educational institutions.

A federal judge in Hawaii halted the new executive order mere hours before it went into effect.

U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson temporarily halted the travel ban with a restraining order.

The Justice Department called the ruling “flawed both in reasoning and scope.”

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, sitting in Maryland, also temporarily halted the executive order.

Chuang argued that the order specifically targeted Muslims, and his ruling blocked the part of the travel ban that prevented the issuance of visas to people from the six countries.

Meanwhile, five Republican-appointed judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voiced their support of the legality of the executive order.

"Whatever we, as individuals, may feel about the President or the Executive Order, the President's decision was well within the powers of the presidency," the judges said.

Watson, the federal judge in Hawaii, extended his order that blocked Trump’s travel ban.

The Trump administration appealed Watson’s ruling with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals began to hear the case of Trump’s travel ban to determine whether it’s an overreach on Trump’s authority.

This hearing was the first of two appeals in May; the other hearing is with the 9th Circuit in California.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., declined to grant a request to halt Trump's executive order as two other judges already ruled to halt the travel ban.

The 4th Circuit blocked the Trump administration from implementing the travel ban.

“We remain unconvinced [the ban] has more to do with national security than it does with effectuating the President’s promised Muslim ban," the court said in its 10-3 ruling.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the Justice Department would request a review of the appeals court ruling from the Supreme Court. Sessions said the Justice Department “strongly” disagreed with the ruling and will continue to defend the order.

The court ruling blocked Trump’s “efforts to strengthen this country’s national security,” Sessions said.

President Trump, Sessions added, isn’t required to admit people from “countries that sponsor or shelter terrorism until he determines that they can be properly vetted” and that they do not pose a security threat.

The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to forge ahead with a limited version of his ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries to the U.S. Trump hailed the decision as a "victory for national security," but it's likely to set off a new round of court disputes over anti-terror efforts and religious discrimination.

The nation’s highest court ruled Monday that justices will hear arguments in October in the case. Until then, the court said, Trump’s ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced if those visitors lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

The State Department said it will implement the travel ban 72 hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling — meaning it will go into effect the morning of June 29.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York grants a stay of the executive order that allows people with valid visas who landed in the U.S. to temporarily remain in the country.