Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer sent a letter to federal officials Friday demanding a list of the people who were detained at LAX, after Trump signed last week an executive order banning entry by refugees and immigrants from seven countries.
Feuer went to Los Angeles International Airport soon after a federal judge in New York ordered a stay on parts of the ban on Saturday to ensure that the ruling was being followed and those who were still being held up were released.
He was prevented by a customs official from gaining access to an area of the airport where travelers were being detained, and was unable to obtain “substantive” answers to his questions about the detainees, Feuer wrote in his letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and other federal officials.
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He was promised a conversation with “a high-ranking federal official” the next day, but that never happened, he wrote. The request for information about the detainees was being made to ensure the “federal government was abiding by the rule of law, as well as the specific, binding terms” of the New York court order, and another order issued days later by a Los Angeles judge, Feuer wrote.
Feuer’s request also includes lists of immigrants who were questioned, sent back or returned voluntarily to where they were traveling from.
Trump’s executive order blocks some refugees from entering the United States for 120 days, and indefinitely denies entry for refugees trying to escape the Syrian civil war and the ISIS terror group. It also bars the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia, including those who have permanent residential status, or a green card, to stay in the United States.
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The executive action sparked protests at airports around the country, and various judges have since issued orders that temporarily halts some of the policies.
Feuer and other Los Angeles city officials are weighing legal action against the federal government over Trump’s executive orders, with the City Council scheduled to discuss the issue during a closed-session discussion on Tuesday.
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