BREAKING: Federal Judge Blocks Deportations Of People Detained Under Trump’s Immigration Ban

Order Issued Late Saturday In Response To ACLU Lawsuit

A federal judge in New York on Saturday evening issued a nationwide order blocking the deportation of people detained in the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s immigration and refugee ban. 

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly, an Obama nominee who took the bench in 2015, issued the ruling in response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center and other groups on behalf of two Iraqi men detained at JFK Airport earlier Saturday.

Both men had U.S. Visas and were in the air when Trump signed the order Friday, which blocked people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country for 90 days. The order also halted the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, and indefinitely suspended the intake of refugees from Syria. 

The ACLU reports that the Donnelly’s nationwide temporary injunction “will block the deportation of all people stranded in U.S. airports under President Trump’s new Muslim ban.” 

“This ruling preserves the status quo and ensures that people who have been granted permission to be in this country are not illegally removed off U.S. soil,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.  

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero added that “on week one, Donald Trump suffered his first loss in court.” 

“Clearly the judge understood the possibility for irreparable harm to hundreds of immigrants and lawful visitors to this country,” Romero said. “Our courts today worked as they should as bulwarks against government abuse or unconstitutional policies and orders.”