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As Protests Escalate, Trump Retreats From Barring Green Card Holders

As tens of thousands protested, the Trump administration reversed itself, announcing that the president’s Muslim ban no longer applies to green-card holders.

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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 29: Protesters chant as they block a road during a demonstration against the immigration ban imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump at Los Angeles International Airport on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Thousands of protesters gathered outside of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport to denounce the travel ban imposed by President Trump. Protests are taking place at airports across the country. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Protesters blocked a road at Los Angeles International Airport on on Sunday. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

As tens of thousands protested across the United States, the Trump administration reversed itself late Sunday, announcing that the president’s executive order barring entry to citizens of seven, Muslim-majority nations no longer applies to more than 500,000 green card holders.

On Saturday, as officials scrambled to implement the hastily issued order, the agency’s acting spokeswoman told Reuters “it will bar green card holders” originally from those nations. Dozens of green-card holders, making them permanent legal residents of the United States, were detained at airports across the country, along with previously vetted refugees from the seven nations, prompting spontaneous protests.

“In applying the provisions of the president’s executive order, I hereby deem the entry of lawful permanent residents to be in the national interest,” John Kelly, the new head of the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.

“Accordingly, absent the receipt of significant derogatory information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare, lawful permanent resident status will be a dispositive factor in our case-by-case determinations,” Kelly added.

That Kelly’s statement came 10 hours after an earlier one, which made no mention of an exemption for those holding green cards, suggested that the policy was being crafted by discussions after, instead of before, Donald Trump issued the order.

For his part, Trump insisted that it was not accurate to call his ban on travel from the seven, Muslim-majority nations a “Muslim ban,” insisting that it was about preventing terrorism, even though not one American has been killed by a traveler from one of those nations.

That claim was also undermined by his adviser Rudy Giuliani boasting to Fox News that he had helped draw up the order after being asked by Trump how to make good on his campaign promise to impose, “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

The sudden about-face by the Trump administration came as protesters rallied against the order in dozens of cities and at airports, where lawyers and members of Congress worked to free detained travelers who had boarded flights with valid U.S. visas. There were several reports of Customs and Border Protection agents refusing to allow access to the detainees, in apparent violation of court orders from federal judges in several states.

There were mass demonstrations in New York, Boston, Washington and Seattle, and demonstrators packed airports from coast to coast, in support of those still detained.

Here is a selection of social media images and video clips from other protests across the nation.

John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York

https://twitter.com/johnsifton/status/825902461672095747

Portland International Airport, Oregon

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia

Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana

https://twitter.com/jeremyaflick/status/825834549062033410

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, Alabama

Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Illinois

Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Michigan

Philadelphia International Airport, Pennsylvania

Los Angeles International Airport, California

San Francisco International Airport, California

https://twitter.com/sanasaleem/status/825860935424233472

https://twitter.com/sanasaleem/status/825877082873819137

Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico

https://twitter.com/amina_eve/status/825892865561628672

Providence, Rhode Island

Boston, Massachusetts

Seattle, Washington

Boise Airport, Idaho

Washington, D.C.

https://twitter.com/AnthroPaulicy/status/825824319221747712

Washington Dulles International Airport

https://twitter.com/mirriam71/status/825795664323997696

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Contact the author:

robert.mackey@​theintercept.com @RobertMackey

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