On the same day President Trump signed an executive order that temporarily bars refugees from entering the U.S., two Iraqi refugees were detained at John F. Kennedy Airport, according to a report Saturday.
Lawyers for the two refugees filed a writ of habeas corpus Saturday morning in the Eastern District of New York in an effort to get their clients, who were reportedly in the air heading to the U.S. on separate flights when Trump signed the executive order, released.
The lawyers also filed a motion for class certification to represent all those stuck at U.S. ports of entry following Trump’s executive orders, according to the New York Times.
They identified their clients as Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who has worked on behalf of the U.S. government in Iraq for the past decade; and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, who had made the trip to the U.S. to unite with wife, who worked as a U.S. contractor, and child.
Darweesh, who began working as an interpreter for the U.S. Army following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, had twice been the targeted for helping the U.S. military, according to the filing.
It is unclear how many other refugees and immigrants have been detained at other airports and ports of entry since the executive order was signed.
The president signed two executive orders Friday, one which suspended issuing visas to seven Muslim-majority countries and barred all refugees from entering the U.S. for 120 days in order to give the Trump administration time to evaluate its vetting process.
At least one report says migrants are already being stopped from coming to the U.S. Daily Mail reported that seven migrants, six from Iraq and one from Yemen, were barred from boarding a flight from Egypt to the U.S., according to Cairo airport officials.
The move to halt refugee entry, even from war-torn countries like Syria, has been criticized by rights groups as being cruel and discriminatory.
