In late January and early February 2017, during protests against Executive Order 13769, commonly referred to as the “Muslim ban,” thousands of people gathered at various airports in the United States and around the world to protest the attempt by the Trump administration to prevent the prohibition of refugees and visitors from seven countries considered by the administration to be unsafe. According to various sources, more than two thousand people were at the protest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City with other protests appearing at significant international airports and other important sites around the United States. Protests continued daily and internationally through February 6. Protests also continued after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against parts of the travel ban.
Background
On January 27, President Trump signed an executive order which created a suspension of admissions of all refugees entering the United States for 120 days and an indefinite block for Syrian refugees. The order also blocked citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Green card holders from these countries were also affected.
Approximately 27 air passengers coming into airports around the United States were either detained or sent home on January 28. By January 29, an estimated 375 travelers had been affected by the order. Two Iraqi detainees were released from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) in New York City, and as of 6p.m. (local) 11 remained. On January 29, there were still two detainees left inside the airport. One was Hameed Jhalid Darweesh, an Iraqi interpreter for the United States Army. Darweesh was held for twelve hours without being allowed to see his lawyers. Two elderly and disabled Iranian citizens with green cards were detained for hours at Washington Dulles International Airport. President Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) that Christian refugees will be given priority in terms of refugee status in the United States.
Protests
The first protest started at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Protests quickly started at other airports nationwide, including Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Airport Seattle's SeaTac Airport, and in airports in Indianapolis, Boston, Denver, Albuquerque, Hartford, Newark, Albany, New York, and San Diego. Also planned were Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Greenville and Philadelphia.
Protesters were mobilized mainly through the use of social media.
Protests and walkouts continued in February. On February 2, thousands of Comcast employees in Portland, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Sunnyvale walked off the job in protest of the executive order.
A later series of protests occurred in Europe and Asia on February 4.
New York City
The protest started January 28, with a small group of around thirty people sometime near 11 a.m. EST. Protesters gathered in front of Terminal 4, where international arrivals take place. As advocacy groups, such as the New York Immigration Coalition, called out to protesters on social media, the crowd grew. The protesters were gathered to denounce Trump's executive order and to show support for refugees and immigrants. The demonstration grew large enough by sunset that it spread into the parking deck near the terminal. Demonstrators brought signs, chanted slogans and called the action a "Muslim ban". The protesters marched from terminal to terminal. Throughout the day, state representatives, Nydia Velázquez and Jerry Nadler were present to help constituents affected by the ban.
A companion protest sprang up on Staten Island in the evening, taking place in Port Richmond. Another protest took place at Battery Park on Sunday. Chelsea Clinton was one of the protesters at that location. There were several thousand protesters at Battery Park. Protests continued at JFK Airport on Sunday as well.
Other groups involved in the protest included Make the Road New York, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Black Latino Asian Caucus members. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was also involved in the protests, having expressed anger that the executive order, which would have harmed the prospects of Muslim refugees, was signed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and groups of Jews broke Sabbath to join the protests. From 6to 7p.m., taxi drivers of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) stopped picking up passengers at the JFK airport in protest of those detained. The taxi boycott resulted in increase Uber pricing as a result of its dynamic pricing model. In the evening, the police were turning away anyone without airplane tickets from using the AirTrain. After 8p.m., Governor Andrew Cuomo asked that people be allowed to board the Air Train once again.
Late in the evening on January 28, Ann Donnelly, a Federal District court judge in Brooklyn for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, blocked part of the executive order, "providing immediate relief to dozens stranded at airports around the country." In the U.S. District Courts in Seattle and Virginia, similar rulings were made. This emergency stay will allow affected individuals with valid visas to stay in the US. However, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Zachary Manfredi from Yale's Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic caution that individuals detained at the airports could still be transferred to different detention facilities. Reports coming from midnight, January 28, indicated that Legal Aid lawyers were still not given access to clients being held inside of JFK. In Brooklyn, demonstrators waited outside the Federal District court as the case was being decided. Additionally, two Iraqi men who had been detained have filed lawsuits on January 28 against both Trump and the United States government over the issue.
President Donald Trump was quoted as saying that his executive order's ban is "working out very nicely. You see it at the airports, you see it all over." Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said President Trump had come to him for guidance over the ruling, which Giuliani described as a "Muslim ban".
Atlanta On January 29, about two thousand people gathered outside of the domestic terminal at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport to protest the ban and the detention of 11 airplane passengers taken into custody the previous day. The detained individuals included a 10-year-old girl and an elderly woman. Civil rights activist John Lewis and Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams participated in the protest. Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed was also on site to speak to the media, although he did not join the demonstration. During the protest, Reed announced that the 11 people detained at the airport had been released.
Baltimore Over 2,000 protesters arrived at Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) on Sunday, January 29, 2017 to protest the Trump immigration order. The protest was held at the reception area for international arrivals, and filled the entire two floors of the atrium. Calls for protests to be held at Baltimore/Washington International Airport appeared on social media early Sunday for that evening, inspired by the protests at JFK Airport. The protests were called for 5pm, and lasted several hours into the night. Protestors arrived from across the Baltimore-Washington D.C. region, and were of every ethnicity and religion including a noticeable presence of religious Jews from Pikesville, Maryland. Lawyers were present to provide legal services to refugees and green-card holders. No foreign arrivals were known to be detained at BWI airport on January 29, 2017. The protest was attended by notable members of Maryland government and members of United States Congress. The protests were peaceful and ended without incident, inviting a response on social media from BWI thanking protesters for a safe protest.
California
The protest in Los Angeles initially saw around 200 protesters on Saturday. Protesters marched and chanted, growing to 400 people by 7:30 p.m., when word came that Federal judges had stayed the executive order. Seven people had been detained in the LAX because of the executive order. Attorneys specializing in immigration law created a "makeshift office" in the Bradley Terminal to help travelers in need.
The protest at the Los Angeles International Airport grew to thousands of people who filled the Tom Bradley International Terminal and spilling out to the street.
The local ABC News station said about four thousand protesters were there again to protest on Sunday. A smaller group of counter-protesters also showed up at the airport, and the resulting clash caused the road next to Terminal 3 to be shut down for an hour. Later on Sunday, World Way was blocked when protesters sat down and refused to move until all people detained in the airport were released. By 10p.m. two protesters had been arrested for blocking traffic, then cited and released. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti promised the city would be a refuge for all people. Because of the protest, some travelers leaving Los Angeles missed their flights.
On Sunday, protesters in Sacramento started demonstrating in Terminal B of the Sacramento International Airport. The city's mayor, Darrell Steinberg, was on hand and said, "Mr. Trump, we will fight you every step of the way." Some Sacramento protesters were heckled by those who agreed with the executive order.
At the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), about a thousand protesters showed up in support of refugees. Initially, US Customs and Border Protection denied holding any travellers at the airport. Five travellers had been detained and each was released by Sunday afternoon. The protest blocked the International arrival area in front of the airport and closed the street. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Google co-founder Sergey Brin attended the SFO protest. Around 60 people had gathered by 6am Sunday morning to demonstrate at SFO. By noon the crowd had returned to its earlier size of around a thousand protesters.
San Diego saw two days of protest at San Diego International Airport. On Sunday there were about a thousand protesters at Terminal2 around 5p.m.
On January 30 about two thousand employees of Google staged a protest in the company's headquarters, Googleplex in Mountain View, as well as seven of its other offices.
On February 4, thousands of protesters attended a rally at San Francisco Civic Center.
Chicago
In Chicago, hundreds of protesters showed up at O'Hare International Airport to protest the detention of 17 travelers. By Saturday night, there were more than a thousand people present and traffic was shut down near Terminal 5. Eighteen travelers had been detained Saturday; all were finally released. On Sunday, at least another 50 were kept for additional questioning. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Elaine Nekritz were there to support the demonstration. Protests at O'Hare slowed down somewhat during the day on Sunday only to begin again both inside and outside around 6p.m. By 7p.m. there were hundreds of protesters at the airport.
Detroit