Detainee Released After Federal Judge Grants Stay On Trump's Immigration Freeze
BOSTON (CBS) -- After a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, granted a stay on President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants or refugees from certain Muslim countries from entering the United States, families at Boston's Logan Airport were reunited.
Hamed Hosseini Bay was questioned at Logan Airport Saturday while trying to get back into America after caring for his sick father in his native Iran. Hosseini Bay has lived in the Boston area for approximately nine years. After a judge granted a case brought by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union Saturday night, Hosseini Bay was reunited with his wife and daughter, who had traveled with him to Iran but returned two weeks earlier.
He was not angry about his questioning.
"Everybody was friendly," Hosseini Bay told WBZ-TV's Jim Smith. "They had to do what they had to do. I'm grateful for all the people back there, but it was chaotic."
According to the ACLU, the judge's stay prevents the U.S. from deporting anyone with approved refugee status or a valid visa from the country. The ruling does not allow more refugees in, but it prevents the government from deporting anyone who has already made it to the country, such as refugees arriving at airports on Saturday.
Hosseini Bay's wife is now questioning what the future will be like for her family in America.
"It's just terrifying how my life has changed in two days, in three days," she said. "I don't know (about the future). Last week everything was normal. I would pick up my daughter from preschool, she was like everyone else, I was like everyone else. But now we're different."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who met with the family after Hosseini Bay was released, called Trump's ban unconstitutional.
"We do not discriminate against people based on their religion. Period," she said. "What Donald Trump has done today is illegal. It's unconstitutional and it chips away at the very foundation of what our democracy is all about."
ACLU lawyers in Boston also headed to federal court late Saturday night to make sure the immigration order wasn't being enforced in the city after the stay was put in place.
Hosseini Bay's release came after an evening of protest both at Logan and across the country. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh denounced Trump's order, attending the protest Saturday night. Gov. Charlie Baker's office issued a statement saying the Governor is against the order as well.
A solidarity rally is planned for 1 p.m. Sunday at Copley Square.
