Two Iraqi citizens — including one who has worked for the US government for a decade — have been detained at Kennedy Airport after President Trump’s executive order calling for “extreme vetting” procedures in screening people entering the country, according to a report.
The two men were on separate flights to the United States when customs agents stopped them at JFK Friday night.
Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who has been an Army interpreter in Iraq, was traveling with his wife and three kids when agents pulled him aside, The New York Times reported.
Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi was en route to join his wife in Texas and intended to catch a connecting flight to Houston when he was stopped, the paper said. The wife had worked for a US contractor.
A customs agent at JFK allegedly told lawyers for the two men who are challenging the detention to “Call Mr. Trump” if they wanted to reach their client, the paper said.
Trump’s executive order, signed Friday, institutes a three-month halt on refugees entering the US from seven countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Airport officials in Cairo stopped seven migrants heading to the US early Saturday before they could board an EgyptAir flight to JFK, according to another report. The migrants were accompanied by officials from the UN’s refugee agency.