Trump immigration ban loses first legal battle Trump vows better Russia ties, reassures NATO allies

Trump proibição de imigração perde primeira batalha legal
Trump promete melhores laços da Rússia, tranquiliza os aliados da Otan

 01/29/2017 - 09:12

Trump immigration ban loses first legal battle

A federal judge blocked part of President Donald Trump's temporary immigration ban, ordering authorities to stop deporting refugees and other travelers stuck at US airports.

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AFP / Bryan R. Smith Demonstrators at JFK International Airport protest President Donald Trump's executive order suspending refugee arrivals and imposing tough controls on some travellers

A federal judge blocked part of President Donald Trump's temporary immigration ban, ordering authorities to stop deporting refugees and other travelers stuck at US airports.
The decision accompanied growing resistance to Trump's crackdown on Muslim immigration, with large protests spreading at major airports across the country.
"Victory!!!!!!" the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose lawyers sued the government, tweeted after US District Judge Ann Donnelly issued her decision.

"Our courts today worked as they should as bulwarks against government abuse or unconstitutional policies and orders."
Trump's sweeping executive order, signed Friday, suspends the arrival of refugees for at least 120 days and bars visas for travelers from seven Muslim majority countries for the next three months.

AFP / PAUL J. RICHARDS Demonstrators gather at the international arrivals area of the Washington Dulles International Airport to protest President Donald Trump's temporary immigration ban

The move, which was implemented immediately by US authorities, sparked large protests at major airports across the country. At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, some of the 2,000 demonstrators there chanted "Let them in, let them in!"
Trump on Friday signed a sweeping executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and bar visas for travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Iran's foreign ministry had earlier released a statement saying it would reciprocate with a ban on Americans entering the country.

Large protests took place at the main airports for Washington, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas.
Donnelly's decision to issue a temporary stay -- which stopped short of ruling on the constitutionality of Trump's order -- came after dozens of people were detained at US airports following Trump's actions.
The exact number of those affected is unclear, but the judge ordered the government to provide lists of all those detained at US airports since the measure went into effect.
Sending those travelers back to their home countries following Trump's order exposes them to "substantial and irreparable injury," wrote Donnelly, who was appointed by Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.
A second federal judge in Virginia also issued a temporary order restricting immigration authorities for seven days from deporting legal permanent residents detained at Dulles Airport just outside Washington, according to US media.
- 'We were prepared' -

AFP / Sophie RAMIS, Alain BOMMENEL Donald Trump, immigration and refugees

"We knew that was coming -- we were prepared," said Camille Mackler, a lawyer who heads legal initiatives at the New York Immigration Coalition, one of the groups that quickly mounted the demonstration there.
"But we didn't know when, and we couldn't believe it would be immediate, that there'd be people in an airplane the moment the order was taking effect."
The List Project, which helps Iraqis whose personal safety is threatened because they have worked for the United States, expressed outraged over the move, warning it put American lives at risk too.

"I can't say this in blunt-enough terms: you can't screw over the people that risked their lives and bled for this country without consequences," wrote the project's founder and director Kirk Johnson.
The ACLU's legal challenge sought the release of two Iraqi men on grounds of unlawful detention. One of them -- Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who has worked as interpreter and in other roles for the US in Iraq -- was in fact released on Saturday after being detained the day before.
- 'We must fight' -

AFP / Bryan R. Smith A federal judge's decision to block part of Trump's temporary immigration ban accompanied growing resistance with large protests at major airports across the country

Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, who went to JFK to press for the release of those detained under Trump's measure, said "We must fight this executive order in the streets, in the courts, anywhere, anytime. We must resist. We must fight."
Trump's pronouncement on Muslim immigration makes good on one of his most controversial campaign promises to subject travelers from Islamic countries to "extreme vetting" -- which he declared would make America safe from "radical Islamic terrorists."
The targeted countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Donnelly's decision shows that "when President Trump enacts laws or executive orders that are unconstitutional, and illegal, the courts are there to defend everyone's rights," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in leaving the emergency hearing.
The ban has triggered political backlash, including from Trump's fellow Republicans.

AFP / Bryan R. Smith At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, some of the 2,000 demonstrators there chanted "Let them in, let them in!"

Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the US Senate, spoke of America's "legal and moral obligations to help the innocent victims of these terrible conflicts."
"I strongly urge the new administration to move quickly to tailor its policy on visa issuance as narrowly as possible, delivering on our security needs while reducing unnecessary burdens on the vast majority of visa-seekers that present a promise -- not a threat -- to our nation," he said in a statement.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, wrote: "To my colleagues: don't ever again lecture me on American moral leadership if you chose to be silent today."

His tweet was accompanied by the now iconic photograph of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey in 2015 after a failed attempt to flee Syria's brutal war to join relatives in Canada.
- A long battle -
The rapid mobilization against the order suggests a protracted battle is shaping up between migrant advocates and Trump and his administration.
"This is the opening salvo of a long battle that will go on in the courts," said Michael Kagan, a law professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who specializes in immigration issues.
He said the outcome of the legal battle is unclear because "we are in unchartered territory in modern America."
The battle could end up in the US Supreme Court, which has not ruled on this type of immigration issue since the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
A White House official said that holders of a green card -- which allows permanent residence in the US and often takes years to obtain -- who are abroad should first go to the US consulate to obtain a document allowing return to the US.
And green card holders in the US who want to travel abroad must obtain approval from a consulate official.
The State Department has said that people from the seven countries under the 90-day travel ban will be prohibited entry no matter their visa status. Only those holding a dual citizenship with the US will be allowed to enter.

01/29/2017 - 09:11

Trump vows better Russia ties, reassures NATO allies

President Donald Trump vowed to improve floundering ties with Russia, while also reassuring close US allies he supports NATO.

Trump vows better Russia ties, reassures NATO allies

AFP / Mandel Ngan US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin from the Oval Office of the White House on January 28, 2017

President Donald Trump vowed to improve floundering ties with Russia, while also reassuring close US allies he supports NATO.
Trump faced a first legal defeat amid growing international alarm over his halt to refugees and travelers from certain Muslim majority countries, with a federal judge blocking part of the ban.
The temporary stay orders authorities to stop deporting dozens of refugees and other travelers who had been detained at US airports since Trump signed his measure Friday afternoon.

British Prime Minister Theresa May indicated she does "not agree" with the restrictions, and will intervene if they affect UK nationals.

AFP/File / Adam BERRY German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and French President Francois Hollande attend a joint press conference prior to talks in the chancellery in Berlin on January 27, 2017

French President Francois Hollande warned of the "economic and political consequences" of the American leader's protectionist stance.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday that Trump's decision to ban arrivals was "a great gift to extremists".
"#MuslimBan will be recorded in history as a great gift to extremists and their supporters," Zarif said as part of a string of tweets.

"Collective discrimination aids terrorist recruitment by deepening fault-lines exploited by extremist demagogues to swell their ranks."
Yemen's Huthi rebels also slammed the ban, saying any attempt to classify Yemen and its citizens as a probable source for terrorism "is illegal and illegitimate."
Trump's sweeping executive order suspends the arrival of refugees for at least 120 days and bars visas for travelers from seven Muslim majority countries for the next three months.
The move sparked large protests at major airports across the country. At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, some of the 2,000 demonstrators chanted "Let them in, let them in!"
- Better US-Russia ties? -

AFP / Mandel Ngan US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel from the Oval Office of the White House on January 28, 2017 in Washington, DC

Trump's friendly stance toward Putin, whom France and Germany accuse of seeking to undermine Western unity, is being scrutinized since he won the US election in November.
The White House hailed the call with Putin as a "significant start" to better US-Russia ties, while the Kremlin said the pair agreed to develop relations "as equals" and to establish "real coordination" against the Islamic State group.
Trump took office last week with US-Russia relations at new Cold War-level lows amid accusations by American intelligence agencies that the Kremlin hacked Democratic Party emails as part of a pro-Trump campaign to influence November's election.

The president -- who has raised the prospect of easing sanctions imposed against Russia after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 -- has cast doubt on whether Russia meddled in the election.

AFP / Bryan R. Smith Protesters gather at JFK International Airport against US President Donald Trump's executive order to ban travellers from certain Muslim-majority countries on January 28, 2017 in New York

In a flurry of calls that began early in the morning and rounded out an already frantically paced week, Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin, Hollande and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The conversations gave the US president an early opportunity to explain new policies that have baffled and unnerved much of the rest of the world -- particularly his order to temporarily halt all refugee arrivals and those of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
European leaders are also concerned about Trump's virulent criticism of NATO -- he has dubbed the transatlantic military alliance "obsolete" -- at a time when it stands as the main defense against Putin.

But in his call with Merkel, Trump agreed on NATO's "fundamental importance," the White House said.
The United States provides significant funding to NATO, and Trump has urged other member nations to step up their contributions.
- 'Extreme vetting' -

AFP / Bryan R. Smith Protesters gather at JFK International Airport against US President Donald Trump's executive order to ban travellers from certain Muslim-majority countries on January 28, 2017 in New York

Trump's pronouncement on Muslim immigration makes good on one of his most controversial campaign promises to subject travelers from Islamic countries to "extreme vetting," which he declared would make America safe from "radical Islamic terrorists."
"It's not a Muslim ban," Trump insisted.
"It's working out very nicely. You see it at the airports, you see it all over," he told reporters.

AFP/File / Sophie RAMIS, Alain BOMMENEL Donald Trump, immigration and refugees

The new protocols specifically bar Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely, or until the president himself decides that they no longer pose a threat.
The legal challenge, which won a first battle in US District Court in New York, was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups after two Iraqi men were detained late Friday at JFK.
- 'Greatest nation' -

One of the men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, had worked for the US government in Iraq for 10 years.
"America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world," Darweesh said after his release.

AFP/File / MANDEL NGAN US President Donald Trump shows his signature on executive orders alongside US Defense Secretary James Mattis and US Vice President Muike Pence on January 27, 2017, at the Pentagon

Mark Doss, a supervising attorney at the International Refugee Project at the Urban Justice Center, said Darweesh's detention and release showed the new policy was being implemented "with no guidance."
The ban has also triggered a political backlash.
"To my colleagues: don't ever again lecture me on American moral leadership if you chose to be silent today," Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, tweeted late Friday.

His tweet was accompanied by the now iconic photograph of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey in 2015 after a failed attempt to flee Syria's brutal war to join relatives in Canada.
International groups and civil liberties organizations have roundly condemned Trump's orders.
"'Extreme vetting' is just a euphemism for discriminating against Muslims," said ACLU executive director Anthony Romero.
Romero said Trump's order breached the US constitution's ban on religious discrimination by choosing countries with Muslim majorities for tougher treatment.
Iran answered in kind by saying it would ban Americans from entering the country, calling Trump's action insulting.
But the US leader did get backing from Czech President Milos Zeman, who praised him for being "concerned with the safety of his citizens."

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