Los Angeles Councilman Bob Blumenfield is convening experts and others to testify before a city committee today on the impacts of President Donald Trump’s targeted travel ban on Los Angeles International Airport — and the affected immigrants, refugees and residents.
The Innovation, Grants, Technology, Commerce and Trade Committee, which oversees LAX, will hear testimony at the 1 p.m. meeting from Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrants’ rights for the ACLU of California and Patrick Gannon, deputy executive director of security and public safety for Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), according to a statement from Blumenfield’s office. Members of the affected communities are also expected to share their stories.
“This executive order was a headache we didn’t need, nor did we want, nor did most of us agree with,” Bluemenfield, who chairs the committee, said in a recent interview. “I want to figure out how we dealt with it and how we can deal with these things in the future in the most efficient and humane way possible.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials declined an invitation to attend the hearing but said they would try to submit written answers to questions before the convening of the committee, according to a staff member at Blumenfield’s office.
Trump’s immigration order, which was signed on Jan. 27, suspended resettlement of Syrian refugees indefinitely, suspended all other refugee resettlement for 120 days, and banned the entry of nationals from seven majority Muslim countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — for a period of 90 days. Trump has said the order is necessary to keep terrorists out of the country.
The order, key provisions of which have been stayed by a number of judges around the country, threw travelers — including permanent legal residents — their families and airport operations “into disarray,” according to a statement from Blumenfield’s office.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated against the order both inside and outside the airport in subsequent days, causing traffic disruptions and delaying pilots and crews from reaching their scheduled flights, according to the councilman’s office.
LAX is the seventh-busiest airport in the world and third busiest in the country, serving more than 74.9 million passengers in 2015, according to LAWA.
The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. today at Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Room 1010.
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