New York Democrats Saturday slammed President Donald Trump's refugee executive order as discriminatory after 12 people were detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport while trying to enter the U.S. from majority-Muslim countries.
"The executive order signed by president Trump is discriminatory, discriminatory on religion and, frankly, quite disgusting," Rep. Jerrold Nadler said at the airport. "It's also counterproductive.
"The express intent is to protect the United States against terrorists," he said. "But the fact of the matter is, not a single terrorist incident since before 9/11 has been caused by anyone in these seven countries that the president named.
"By contrast, a country like Saudi Arabia — which produced most of the attackers on September 11th — was not covered by this order.
"Secondly, the refugees who have valid visas, the president said he wants extreme vetting. We've been doing extreme vetting for years. We've been doing vetting.
"All of these refugees have been examined — and they're bona fides and their records were looked into for an average of two years," Nadler said. "Two years by American authorities."
Twelve people traveling from countries included in the order Trump signed on Friday — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — were detained at JFK, a lawyer for one man who was being held said on Saturday.
Mark Doss, who represents one of the men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, told reporters that his client was released Saturday afternoon without explanation. He was detained on Friday and held overnight.
"We are very grateful that Mr. Darweesh has been released," Doss said.
Eleven others remained in federal custody, he said.
Darweesh, who held a valid visa, served the U.S. as an interpreter in Iraq.
"I'm very thankful and I'm very happy," Darweesh told reporters at JFK after his release. "Really, I forget what I fear, what happened to me. Because they're good people.
"America is the greatest nation," he added. "The greatest people in the world."
Trump's order banned travelers entering the U.S. from the seven countries for 90 days. It also suspended entry of all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halted the admission of refugees from Syria.
Doss was among a group of lawyers and advocacy groups who sued the Trump administration in federal court overnight, challenging the refugee order as unconstitutional and seeking the release of their clients, The Washington Post reports.
At JFK, Nadler called Darweesh "a marked man in Iraq because he served as an interpreter and worked with American troops.
"He helped the U.S. Army for years. He is not a potential terrorist.
"It's counterproductive," he added, referring to the order. "It's ridiculous and it discriminates on the basis of religion."
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