This past Friday, only a week after Donald Trump was sworn into office, he signed an executive order that banned people from seven majority Muslim nations from entering the United States legally, including those who are legal residents. The countries banned include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the New York Times. Immediately after the order was signed, many students, legal residents with green cards and refugees, were stopped and questioned at airports all over the United States and abroad. Immediately after the news got out of people being detained, even if they have lived in the US for their whole lives, riots and protests ensued all over the country against the order and against Trump on the basis of discrimination.
But in a true victory, on Saturday night, this order was temporarily halted when a federal judge granted the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) request for a “nationwide temporary injunction that will block the deportation of all people stranded in U.S. airports.” As well, according to the NYT, federal judges in three other states, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington, also issued similar rulings in order to stop the government from removing refugees and other people with valid US visas.
Victory!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/uyza3zrQSX
— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 29, 2017
BLOCKED. (Today’s @nytimes front page)#NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/GXM187JOHe
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) January 29, 2017
Although protesters around the country are excited about this outcome, they know that this is just the beginning. From Syracuse, New York to Austin, Texas, last minute protests are being organized with the motto of “No Ban, No Wall” in order to get the message across that this Muslim ban is not okay nor will it be tolerated. For the full list of protests happening in your city, click here.