QUEENS — One person was still detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport under President Trump's refugee ban after thousands of people protested the executive order over the weekend, immigration lawyers said Monday morning.
Lawyers at #NoBanJFK still going strong. #NoBanUSA #NotOnOurWatch pic.twitter.com/AfMh3LU112
— NoBanJFK (@nobanjfk) January 30, 2017
The executive order, which the president signed on Friday with reportedly little consultation from other federal officials, sent shockwaves around the world and drew angry protests across the country.
About five thousand people rallied at Kennedy airport, according to Port Authority officials, saying it was un-American to ban people from the seven countries Trump targeted: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
A 72-year-old man, whose name wasn't immediately released, was ticketed for disorderly conduct at the airport protest, a Port Authority Police spokesman said Monday.
More gathered in Lower Manhattan, where five were arrested for disorderly conduct Sunday evening, an NYPD spokesman said Monday.
On Saturday night, a Brooklyn judge blocked deportation of people with proper refugee applications and others with valid visas or are otherwise legally allowed to enter the United States.
The numbers of people who were being held at Kennedy fluctuated throughout the weekend, with lawyers saying as many as 52 people were detained at one point.
By Monday morning, 41 people had been released and two people were deported, according to a group of immigration lawyers who have set up an ad-hoc headquarters outside Central Diner in JFK's Terminal 4.
The lawyers collected accounts from the people who were detained. They included a father and son who were held for 33 hours without access to a bed. A 75-year-old woman had been in Libya to be with her sister when she died. Two men were held for 30 hours when they came to visit their newborn grandson and nephew.
Lawyers believe that the number of detentions was decreasing Monday in part because people from the countries that the president targeted are either not being allowed onto flights to begin with or are simply cancelling their trips.
