--- title: Donald Trump Immigration Order: Protesters Rally at JFK description: Twelve travelers from countries named in President Trump's recent executive order were held at John F. Kennedy International Airport canonical: https://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-28T21:03:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:33:27.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Protesters Rally at JFK Airport as 12 Detained Over President Trump’s Immigration Order og:description: Roughly 150 protestors gathered to register their objection to the ban and the detainment og:url: https://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d42fa833df12936/6988b7ba0b72e3c2616ec704/jfk-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-AIRPORTS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Protesters Rally at JFK Airport as 12 Detained Over President Trump’s Immigration Order twitter:description: Roughly 150 protestors gathered to register their objection to the ban and the detainment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d42fa833df12936/6988b7ba0b72e3c2616ec704/jfk-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Protesters Rally at JFK Airport as Lawyers Say 'Dozens' Detained Over President Trump’s Immigration Order > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:33 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2017 9:03 PM UTC  Protesters gather at JFK International Airport's Terminal 4 to demonstrate against Trump's executive order, on Jan. 28, 2016 in New York. Protesters gather at JFK International Airport's Terminal 4 to demonstrate against Trump's executive order, on Jan. 28, 2016 in New York.Bryan R. Smith—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:33 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2017 9:03 PM UTC _To view this video on your mobile device, download the latest version of the YouTube mobile app. When using YouTube 360°, you can watch the footage from any point of view. Simply, drag your finger on your screen or move your phone in any pattern._ Lawyers say dozens of travelers from countries named in [President Trump’s recent executive order](http://time.com/4652552/president-trump-is-suspending-a-refugee-program-and-banning-visas-from-7-countries/) were [held at John F. Kennedy International Airport](http://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/) and other airports Saturday amid confusion about whether they could legally enter the country. At least two of the detained were legal U.S. visa holders who were not allowed to speak to their attorneys for several hours. “Both recipients have approved visas, got on a plane before executive order was signed, arrived and were then detained,” says Lara Finkbeiner, deputy legal director for the International Refugee Assistance Project, which represents two of the twelve detainees. “We have no idea how they’re doing.” As of early afternoon on a Saturday, one of the detainees, Iraqi citizen Hameed Khalid Darweesh, 53, was released. Darweesh worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq, which caused local militia to threaten his life. Julie Kornfeld, a lawyer working to secure the release of the other known detainee Haider Sameer Abdukhaleg Alshawi, 33, said that he arrived Friday around 8:30 p.m. from Sweden. Kornfeld says his wife had been “very emotional,” and had not slept since her husband was detained. Alshawi’s family members had worked for a U.S. security contractor in Iraq. No details are yet known about the other detainees. Two members of congress, as well as roughly 150 protesters, were at JFK to register their objection to the ban and the detainment. They described a scene of contradictory orders and confusion regarding travelers who were already en route to the United States at the time the ban was ordered. “When asked if the presidents executive order supersedes a valid visa, they said that they’re ‘trying to figure that out,'” said Rep. Jerrold “Jerry” Nadler, D-NY. “This whole thing is shameful.” Nadler noted the irony that the ban was signed on Holocaust Remembrance Day. “This is not who we are. This is an affront to our American values,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-NY. “We cannot go back to those dark days in our country.” Trump defended the order on Saturday and attempted to paint a different picture of the confusion playing out at airports around the country, characterizing it as a smooth implementation. “We were totally prepared,” he said. “It’s working out very nicely. You see it at the airports. You see it all over. It’s working out very nicely.” Port Authority officers at JFK expelled reporters and demonstrators from the international terminal, saying that the terminal was “private property” and that reporting was not allowed inside according to “the client.” JFK’s Terminal 4 is the only privately owned terminal in the U.S., owned and operated by JFKIAT, which is owned by a division of Amsterdam’s Schipol Group. Nearly a dozen lawyers gathered inside Terminal 4 to offer pro-bono assistance to detained travelers, but since the names of the detained have not been released, it’s difficult for the lawyers to do their work. “We’re trying to get the word out that if people are expecting family members, reach out,” said Nisha Agarwal, Commisioner for Immigrant Affairs in NYC. lawyers for the IRAP say the best way for family members to get assistance for a detained loved one is to email their name to [spoellot@refugeerights.org](mailto:spoellot@refugeerights.org), with the subject line “Name of Detained Person.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/"},"headline":"Protesters Rally at JFK Airport as Lawyers Say 'Dozens' Detained Over President Trump’s Immigration Order","datePublished":"2017-01-28T21:03:16.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T12:33:27.000Z","description":"Roughly 150 protestors gathered to register their objection to the ban and the detainment","url":"https://time.com/4652654/jfk-detain-trump-immigration-order/","keywords":["Immigration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d42fa833df12936/6988b7ba0b72e3c2616ec704/jfk-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d42fa833df12936/6988b7ba0b72e3c2616ec704/jfk-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-AIRPORTS","caption":"US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-AIRPORTS","creditText":"Bryan R. 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