CANADA OFFERS TEMPORARY STAY TO MUSLIMS

Canada will offer temporary residency to travellers stranded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s orders temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries, a senior official said on Monday.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen told a news conference he did not know how many people might be eligible but said only a handful of passengers headed to the United States from Canada had been denied boarding.
Trump on Friday gave an executive order barring citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days

“Let me assure those who may be stranded in Canada that I will use my authority as minister to provide them with temporary residency if they need it,” Hussen said.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has refrained from criticising the United States, which takes 75 percent of Canadian exports, preferring instead to stress Canada is open to refugees.

“Every country has the right to determine their policies,” said Hussen.

The Canadian Council for Refugees and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), called on Ottawa to withdraw from a Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S., under which Canada returns asylum seekers crossing the border.

“There’s a danger that the U.S. is doing blanket detentions and deportations … and not honouring asylum claims,” said CCLA Executive Director Sukanya Pillay.

Such a move would be diplomatically insulting and Hussen said the pact would remain unchanged for now.

Local and national politicians have condemned Trump’s ban and the opposition New Democrats want an emergency debate in the federal Parliament.

The U.S. Consulate in Toronto said it would suspend services on Monday because of a planned demonstration.

More than 200 Canadian technology company founders, executives and investors said on Sunday that Ottawa should immediately give temporary residency to those displaced by Trump’s order.

ZUCKERBERG WRITES TRUMP - WE'RE A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook has written an emotional response to Donald Trump’s anti-immigration orders, saying immigrants are ‘our future’.

Trump, has barred seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days from entering the US, and has also placed an indefinite ban on refugees entering the country – even if they had already been granted asylum.

People have reportedly been left stranded at American airports with nowhere to go.



Zuckerberg, in a heartfelt letter expressed disagreement with Trump’s plan to build a wall at the Mexican border, and of his own and his wife’s immigrant backgrounds.

He said, “My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla’s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that.

Like many of you, I’m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump.

We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don’t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation.

We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today.

That said, I was glad to hear President Trump say he’s going to “work something out” for Dreamers — immigrants who were brought to this country at a young age by their parents. Right now, 750,000 Dreamers benefit from the Deferred

Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows them to live and work legally in the US. I hope the President and his team keep these protections in place, and over the next few weeks I’ll be working with our team at FWD.us to find ways we can help.

I’m also glad the President believes our country should continue to benefit from “people of great talent coming into the country.”

These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented. They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here. I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone.

US FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS PART OF DISCRIMINATORY BAN ON TRAVELLERS

US judge blocks deportations under Trump's Muslim ban
Ruling temporarily ends detention of travellers with valid visas and prohibits their removal from the US.

CHAOS AND CONFUSION ON DAY 2 OF TRUMP'S BAN

Federal judge temporarily blocks part of discriminatory ban on travellers
Protests erupt at airports
Homeland Security: 109 travellers banned in 23 hours
American Civil Liberties Union vows support for detained passengers
State attorneys general weigh court challenge
A federal judge has blocked part of President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, ruling that  travellers who have already landed in the US with valid visas should not be sent back to their home countries.

Lawyers  had filed a legal case in response to the order that includes a  90-day entry ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations.

US District Judge Ann Donnelly's ruling  late on Saturday concerns dozens of people who were detained at US airports following Trump's actions.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which had filed a class action lawsuit against the ban, hailed the temporary stay of execution as a victory.

"This ruling preserves the status quo and ensures that people who have been granted permission to be in this country are not illegally removed off US soil,"  Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said.


An Iranian professor who has a green card is reunited with friends and family after being questioned at Boston's Logan Airport [Reuters]
ACLU said it would help 100 to 200 people with valid visas or refugee status, who found themselves detained in transit or at US airports after Trump signed the order late on Friday.

The legal case was raised after two Iraqis were held by law enforcement officials at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) while trying to legally enter the country.

More than 100 detained

At least 12 travellers have been detained at JFK, prompting mass protests at the airport.

Less than 24 hours into the ban, Homeland Security said that at least 109 travellers had been denied entry into the US in total.

Homeland Security said on Sunday it would "comply with judicial orders", referring to Donnelly's ruling,  but that Trump's order remains in place.

A group of state attorneys general, meanwhile, are discussing whether to file their own court challenge against the order, officials in three states told the Reuters news agency.

Officials in the offices of attorneys general in Pennsylvania, Washington and Hawaii said they were evaluating what specific claims could be filed, and in which court.

Trump signed the executive order on Friday  that effectively denies entry to people from seven Muslim-majority countries, including those with green cards, who otherwise have permanent residence in the US.

Signing the order at the Pentagon, Trump said the move would help protect Americans from "terrorist" attacks.

visas united states refugees infographic

'Absolute chaos'

"It's been absolute chaos at airports across the country," Abed Ayoub, legal and policy director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, told Al Jazeera. "It's definitely not making America safe again, it's just making America hate again."

He added that the order "doesn't only concern American Muslims, it concerns Americans. [Trump's] hate rhetoric is turning into destructive policies."

In the case of war-torn Syria, Trump qualified the order's scope by saying he would prioritise Syrian Christians entering as refugees.

Al Jazeera's John Hendren, reporting from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, said: "People who were already here are not allowed to be deported under that court order ... [But] this was only a temporary reprieve. Not everybody who has been trying to get into this country has been able to get here. We really don't know the end of this story."

The order limits entry for at least 90 days from Syrian travellers and other Muslim-majority countries, but did not list the countries by name. The state department said the three-month ban in the directive applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - all Muslim-majority nations.

Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said: "There is a lot of angst among the Kurdish population of Iraq, because if there's a spat between Baghdad and Washington, these are the people who will be worst affected."

He added: "So far from the people we have spoken to there is anger and shock. These are people who have been working side-by-side with American forces and contractors in various roles. They are not sure how it's going to pan out. Families have been separated."


A police officer walks past people protesting against the travel ban at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport [Laura Buckman/Reuters]
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  weighed in on Saturday on Trump's orders with a decidedly different approach.

"To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada," he tweeted, along with a photograph of him greeting a Syrian child at a Toronto airport.

A spokeswoman for Trudeau told The Associated Press, he is "looking forward to discussing the successes of Canada's immigration and refugee policy" when he meets with Trump at the White House - a meeting that is expected in the near term.

"I think we keep fighting," Sarah Owing, with the American Immigration Lawyers Association's, told Al Jazeera. "We're not going to rest until we make sure that the constitutional rights of lawful permanent residents are respected, and that those that seek asylum on our shores are entitled and given all the rights to seek that form of relief."