Defending Against the Indefensible

Some of the protesters at JFK International; it's quite a commitment for each protester, $50 just to get there.

Lately, we've been seeing a lot of one organization that is prominent in protecting people from the extreme abuses of the Trump administration. That organization, the AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU), has a long and distinguished history. In existence for nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been on the job "defending and preserving the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States". At no other time in our history, have we cried out and needed the expertise of this organization, like we need it now.

While the Trump administration has made it their business to codify discrimination and bigotry into an unlawful ban against Muslim refugees, the ACLU has undertaken the task of defending these vulnerable individuals through the very laws that Trump's administration is ignoring. Despite court orders from a federal court in Brooklyn, NY, which prevented deportation of those with visas and green cards, and Boston, that placed a temporary stay on detention and additional interrogation of those caught in the ban for 7 to 10 days, Trump and his officials have been ignoring the judicial orders.



In fact, Trump administration action has not gone unnoticed by the ACLU. Joanne Lin, senior legislative counsel, stated, "We've received many reports of potential violations of court orders. We're looking into those, and whether or not people are going to have to sue the federal government to enforce the court orders."

Another court in Virginia had mandated that those being detained and questioned have access to lawyers. Reince Priebus, on Meet the Press, had pronounced that those with green cards weren't being targeted, but that border agents can still detain anyone from the banned countries if they deem them "up to no good".

However, this entire exercise of ignoring court orders has been very upsetting for travelers from the countries that Trump deemed to be banned. At LAX, Sarah Fatemi, a graduate student who was helping to translate for families affected many of whom went for hours without food, has noticed the level of distress. She noted, "A lot of  people were exhausted, they were crying, they were running into each other's arms. There was a steady stream of about two at a time coming into arrivals. We were handing out food, we would give them intake forms to fill out and give to an attorney in case they'd been harassed or given a difficult time." She returned the next day and also noted that there were more Farsi-speaking greeters to help passengers.

A large group of Iranian Americans live in the area of LAX and mobilized quickly. Some came looking for family members who were in flight when the Trump orders were issued. Kamryn Taghizadeh was waiting for her 80-year-old grandfather and found out that he had been detained, even though he had a green card. She was clutching a sign, which said, "Free My Grandpa", as she tried to locate him. The trip from Iran had lasted a long nine hours, after he had already spent five hours on the drive to the airport.

Some of the hard work of those who do the work at ACLU.

Ms. Taghizadeh detailed the ordeal that her grandfather endured, "He doesn't speak any English, so they were trying to interrogate him, but he couldn't reply. They were asking him questions over and over, even though he couldn't answer because of the language barrier. We had no contact with him either, because his cell phone doesn't work in America. It was very hard on him, he was just so tired." Finally, he was released at 1:45 AM. Kamryn then rushed toward him and gave him a big hug. She said, "I just broke down. It was so heartbreaking."

And that was just one of many stories. A five-year-old boy was detained until, finally, he was released to his mother. A young woman, a data scientist, who has lived legally in South Carolina for seven years, cut short her visit to Iran and frantically tried to get back to her home. Her trip didn't end so well, since she ended up being deported, with no hearing, and all of her belongings, including her puppy, left behind in the home she may never see again. It boggles the mind how twisted the logic is from those who are left with the task of justification. But - there is no justification. Pontificating about the dangerous nature of a five-year-old, as Sean Spicer did, only shows the cruel and heartless lengths that those who have sold their souls to Trump have gone. Keep the light shining, ACLU. We really, really need you right now. And we want to let those from the black list countries know that we want to roll out the red carpet for you, we really do. Those protesters at the airports are about getting to the point that we can right that wrong committed against you.

The ACLU is also helping to defend against deportations without at least a day in court.

Thanks for information from this article by Sonya Narang and Angilee Shah on PRI: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-30/federal-judges-have-temporarily-blocked-parts-trump-s-immigration-restrictions; and the above link.

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