Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal today vowed to fight the "ill-conceived and unconstitutional" executive order by US President Donald Trump banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. The remark from the Seattle Democratic Representative came after two immigrants held by Customs and Border Protection at the Seattle airport as a result of the order were released.
"President Trump's barbaric executive orders have thrown our nation's ports into turmoil and struck fear into the hearts of Muslims across the country," Ms Jayapal said.
"The release of the two immigrants held by CBP is a small victory in our fight against the president's inhumane policies," she said in a statement and thanked American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Northwest Immigrants Rights Project for taking swift legal action for their release.
"President Trump should know that this is not over. This is only the beginning of our resistance. We will fight his ill-conceived and unconstitutional executive orders until the very end," Ms Jayapal vowed.
Jorge Baran, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joined Ms Jayapal in welcoming the release.
"We're pleased to see the release of individuals held by CBP."
"While our work is far from over, this victory proves that we are on the right side of the law. We appreciate our political and community leaders who took swift action and help make this release possible. We pledge to use every resource available to bring relief to individuals suffering as a result of these executive orders," Baron said.
Mr Trump has caused outrage at home and abroad after he signed the executive order on Friday suspending refugee arrivals and barring visas for travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days.
The two individuals were released this morning at the airport. One of them is on his way to Las Vegas to a convention he was planning to attend. The other is with his family who were already here visiting other relatives.
One of them is a Sudanese citizen who has lived in the UAE for more than twenty years and the other is a Yemeni citizen born in Saudi Arabia. They were both arriving on visitors visas.
