--- title: Donald Trump Immigration Order: Iraqi Refugees Detained description: Lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees, detained after President Trump's refugee suspension, filed a suit for their clients to be released canonical: https://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-28T16:57:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:33:36.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Detention of Iraqi Refugees at JFK Sparks Legal Challenge to Trump's Executive Order og:description: "This is a profound disruption and a deep disappointment" og:url: https://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltede704823f112b5b/6988b7b5bc6cfc39b03dff79/trump20.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US President Trump signs Executive Orders . DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Detention of Iraqi Refugees at JFK Sparks Legal Challenge to Trump's Executive Order twitter:description: "This is a profound disruption and a deep disappointment" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltede704823f112b5b/6988b7b5bc6cfc39b03dff79/trump20.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Detention of Iraqi Refugees at JFK Sparks Legal Challenge to President Trump's Executive Order  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:33 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2017 4:57 PM UTC  President Trump signs executive orders in the Hall of Heroes at the Department of Defense on Jan. 27, 2017 in Arlington, VA. President Trump signs executive orders in the Hall of Heroes at the Department of Defense on Jan. 27, 2017 in Arlington, VA.Olivier Douliery—AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:33 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2017 4:57 PM UTC Lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees, detained at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport following [President Donald Trump’s suspension](http://time.com/4652552/president-trump-is-suspending-a-refugee-program-and-banning-visas-from-7-countries/?xid=homepage) of the refugee program, [filed a suit early Saturday](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html) for their clients to be released. The Iraqi men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, arrived on separate flights and were detained Friday night, the [New York _Times_ first reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html). Darweesh had served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq, according to the _Times_. He was released Saturday afternoon, according to New York Reps. [Jerry Nadler](https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/825397655048171521) and [Nydia Velázquez](https://twitter.com/NydiaVelazquez/status/825400669687390212). Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the Iraqi refugees are the first two petitioners in a class-action suit filed in the Eastern District of New York by lawyers representing a collection of groups, including the ACLU and the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center. “We’re doing what we can to gather intelligence of what’s going on all around the country,” Jadwat told TIME. He said he’s looking to the government to provide more information about how many refugees have been detained since Trump [signed an executive order](http://time.com/4652552/president-trump-is-suspending-a-refugee-program-and-banning-visas-from-7-countries/?xid=homepage) Friday that suspended the [State Department’s Refugee Assistance Program](http://time.com/4652367/donald-trump-refugee-policy-christians/) and barred visa entry from seven countries, including Iraq and Syria. “Immediately, what we’re trying to do is protect these people from being wrongly deported or detained,” Jadwat said. “Obviously, more broadly, you take the situation that these two men and their families are in and you multiply it by tens of thousands of people — more than that — who are subject to this ban.” Betsy Fisher, policy director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said the group had started preparing to handle this kind of situation when they saw a leaked draft of Trump’s order earlier this week. “It occurred to us that this could be one potential result — that there would be people who would take off and would be in the air when the executive order was signed,” Fisher told TIME. She said the group is now examining all legal options to challenge the order. “These individuals are people who have been victims of terrorism and have survived violence and have waited for, on average, two years and gone through rounds and rounds of interviews. They’ve been in limbo,” Fisher said. “This is a profound disruption and a deep disappointment, but it also means that people will remain in danger while they’re waiting to see if they will have an opportunity.” > [](https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/825397655048171521) > [](https://twitter.com/NydiaVelazquez/status/825400669687390212) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Detention of Iraqi Refugees at JFK Sparks Legal Challenge to President Trump's Executive Order","datePublished":"2017-01-28T16:57:59.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T12:33:36.000Z","description":"\"This is a profound disruption and a deep disappointment\"","url":"https://time.com/4652607/iraqi-refugees-detained-president-trump-lawsuit/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltede704823f112b5b/6988b7b5bc6cfc39b03dff79/trump20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltede704823f112b5b/6988b7b5bc6cfc39b03dff79/trump20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Trump signs Executive Orders . 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