U.S. Judge Blocks Deportation of Banned Travelers; 11 People Detained at Atlanta Airport
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Following the breaking news this hour here on CNN. I'm George Howell.</s>CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Cyril Vanier. And a Federal Judge is putting on pause parts of Donald Trump's travel ban. The court granted an emergency stay for citizens of seven Muslim majority countries who have already arrived in the U.S. and have valid visas.</s>HOWELL: That stay also covers those who are in transit, that basically means they will not be deported immediately. The ruling came a day after protests at airports across the country.</s>VANIER: A U.S. Homeland Security official says that in the roughly 24 hours between the executive order being signed and the court ruling, the U.S. had denied entry to at least 109 people. And abroad, nearly 200 others were told not to board their flights headed for the</s>U.S. HOWELL: The American Civil Liberties Union, better known as the ACLU, filed the lawsuit against the ban. They released this statement, saying, quote, "The 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." People across the United States were quick to speak out against this travel ban.</s>VANIER: And protesters flooded major airports around the country including San Francisco, New York and Chicago.</s>HOWELL: On the West Coast of the United States, one of those protests took over the airport in Seattle, Washington. That's where we find Gabe Cohen with our affiliate KOMO-TV at Sea-Tac Airport. Gabe, if you could just set the scene of what's happening behind you there.</s>GABE COHEN, KOMO TV AFFILIATE REPORTER: George, this has become the story that I hear, protesters blocking those security checkpoints chanting, "No one gets in until they get out." And I want to bring you over here for a second to show you. Protesters have blocked off some of the exits here at Sea-Tac. That's where we've seen some of the most tense moments tonight as arriving passengers, getting off flights, tried to exit the airport only to have some of these protesters block their way. We saw some minors scuffles. Police, though, have tried to stay ahead of the game as these hundreds of protesters have occupied the airport. They opened up a side entrance to the building. That's how they were trying to let arriving passengers out. But the protesters picked up on that. They formed lines outside and again we saw some of those tense moments. Police also trying to open up a checkpoint just behind where these protesters are standing here. They were carefully, struggling travelers through but protesters again forming lines, trying to block those travelers from getting through. At this point, we don't know of any major delays tonight or tomorrow morning, but these protesters have vowed to stay here through the night, George.</s>HOWELL: A lot of people there in a very busy part of that airport that I know well. The protests, have they remained peaceful?</s>COHEN: As far as we can tell they have remained peaceful. We have seen some pushing and shoving again between arriving passengers, even people trying to leave the airport, trying to go through to get their flights as well as officers. Officers for the most part, the police have remained cool, calm and collective as protesters push up against them. They've tried to keep them formed in a line, but police telling me tonight that they have no arrests. So as far as we can tell, it has remained peaceful, George.</s>HOWELL: Gabe, one other question. Is there any indication as to whether those protesters will be able to stay there in the airport or will they be asked to leave at some point? Because there are so many people there voicing their concerns about this travel ban.</s>COHEN: We don't know at this point. As of now, there hasn't been any indication that they're going to be escorted out. For the past hour or two, they've remained in a couple of places around the airport. Earlier in the night, they were moving throughout and police were trying to guide them a little bit. But as of now, from what we can tell, they're going to let them stay right here and protest.</s>HOWELL: Gabe Cohen at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, Washington, with CNN affiliate KOMO TV. Gabe, thank you so much for the reporting.</s>VANIER: And we want to -- and we want to run you through the details of the travel ban. What does it do? It forbids people from seven countries from entering the U.S. for three months while vetting procedures are reviewed. Those countries are all predominantly Muslim. Here they are: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.</s>HOWELL: The order also suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days until so-called extreme vetting procedures are put in place. Syrian refugees, they are barred indefinitely. Also, people holding certain visas will now have to undergo in-person interviews in order to renew them.</s>VANIER: Now Mr. Trump's move to block travel from seven Muslim majority countries has sent shockwaves around the world. Let's get the view in the Middle East. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins us now from Amman in Jordan. Jomana, what's the reaction where you are?</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there was a lot of confusion and chaos to an extent, Cyril, when this news started spreading on Saturday. In contacting different airlines, different airports, it seemed that some were informed of these new restrictions, other were not. But it seems right now that this is slowly starting to become more and more official. Just a short time ago, we spoke to the national carrier of Jordan, that's Royal Jordanian, that is used by many travelers from some of these impacted countries like Iraq, for example, and Libya, amongst them. They used flights out of Jordan, for example, to get to the United States. And according to Royal Jordanian just a few hours ago, they did receive these new restrictions and they said that effective immediately they are going to start implementing them. A lot of shock as you had mentioned in this region. A lot of this realization that this region is going to be looking at a whole new America right now and its approach and how it deals with the rest of the world, is going to be very different. Of course it impact a lot of people, not necessarily just those categories that were mentioned. You have a lot of business people. You have a lot of students who go to the United States from these countries who will be impacted. And it's going to disrupt so many lives. And we've seen reactions and in just the last few minutes we've also heard from the deputy Turkish prime minister, also tweeting his reaction saying, "Refugees welcome in Turkey, the world's largest refugee hosting country. We'd happily welcome global talent not allowed back in the United States." Cyril.</s>VANIER: Jomana, you've traveled across the region. You know the people there. And the question that this is perhaps less of a predictable reaction to what's going on in the U.S., people in that region have had to grapple with the threat of terrorism. Do you think there might be somewhere a level of understanding for what the U.S. is trying to do?</s>KARADSHEH: Well, I think there was always that level of understanding, Cyril. People do appreciate that when they apply, for example, for U.S. visas. They already had to go through some really stringent measures. They've had to go through -- you know, when the president speaks about this, you know, extreme vetting and, you know, all these background checks, this is something that has already been taking place and people do appreciate that, especially when you talk about people coming from countries where they had to live with terrorism and the threat from terrorism on a daily basis like Syrians and Iraqis, of course. And when you talk about extreme vetting, we're talking about, for example, refugees. People who have applied for resettlement in the United States and they have gone through so many layers of vetting, background checks, interviews, screenings, and some of them have waited for years to try and get into the United States. So this has never been an easy process. And even for people applying for visit visas, student visas, everyone has had to go through various background checks and certain levels of security screening to get into the United States so while there was this understanding, you know, the real shock here is this complete ban that is going to take place right now.</s>VANIER: Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much, with the thinking in the Middle East at the moment. Thanks a lot.</s>HOWELL: The Department of Homeland Security has looked over the recent rulings and it's saying now this, "That it will comply with the judicial orders, faithfully enforce our immigration laws and implement the president's executive orders to ensure that those entering the United States do not pose a threat to our country or the American people." The department says the travel ban affected less than 1 percent of the international air travelers who arrived in the United States. Let's bring in now Scott Lucas. He is a professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham and the founder of the news Web site EA World View. Scott, a pleasure to have you with us. So this executive order came quickly and almost just as quickly the stay that was granted by a federal court judge. Are we likely to see more challenges, more court challenges to the president's executive order?</s>SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Well, absolutely. I mean, you don't -- the initial challenges were based on a couple of cases in New York, a couple of Iraqis who were detained. They actually have been released. But you're talking about hundreds of people who are still in detention across these airports. And it is not clear, although the initial court order says they cannot be removed from the U.S. it does not say that they have to be freed from detention. So unless I think you see the Trump administration put out a clear message that it is going to let everyone go, it's not going to detain anybody, while it tries to find tune the implementation of this rather arbitrary order, we will see both the political and the legal battle continue.</s>HOWELL: So you're suggesting that we will hear more from the Trump administration on this at the same time we know that there are more protests scheduled because of this travel ban. The president of the United States described this as an order that is designed to make America safer to ensure that terrorists are kept out of the country. In your view, does this promote greater security or does it create new risks?</s>LUCAS: Absolutely not. As your correspondents already made clear, there are already measures which had been asked. Especially since 9/11. To try to screen those who'd come into the United States including those Iran visas. And the salient point here is that of those seven countries which had been targeted by the Trump administration as of late zero attacks have been carried out by anyone who is a national or connected with those countries. There have been a handful -- only a handful of attacks by foreign born extremists, killing 24 Americans since 2001. Compare that to the tens of thousands each year that are killed by guns for example in the country. So this does not appear to be a sensible reaction to security.</s>HOWELL: Some are asking about consistency, noting that a country like Saudi Arabia is not on this list. The president has pointed out, you know, concern about preventing things like 9/11, many of the people involved in that were from Saudi Arabia. But the president has also said that this list could grow, Scott.</s>LUCAS: I have no doubt that they may expand this list but not based on it sending it necessarily to Saudi Arabia. We could see this go into any country in Africa or the Middle East or into Asia. I doubt we'll see it on Europe because let's be very clear here. These initial countries were targeted because they have largely Muslim populations. That is not a security consideration. That is religious discrimination. And let's also be clear here that one of the driving forces behind this is the president's chief strategist Steve Bannon who had just been named to the National Security Council. And Bannon does want to extend these types of restrictive measures.</s>HOWELL: Scott Lucas, live with us from the United Kingdom. Scott, thank you so much for your time today and insight.</s>LUCAS: Thank you.</s>HOWELL: Still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Britain's prime minister is not pleased that the president of the United States has imposed a temporary travel ban that could affect citizens of the U.K. We'll hear what Theresa May had to say.</s>VANIER: Plus we'll also hear from a political commentator who says the controversial travel ban was the right thing to do. Stay with CNN.