Refugees, Cleveland Clinic Doctor Banished from Lives in Cleveland
In a late Friday executive order, President Trump issued a travel ban on all refugees selected to be resettled in the United States, as well as immigrants and other visa-holders from certain Muslim-majority nations.
The discriminatory policy was implemented immediately, nationwide, without guidance to agents charged with carrying it out, resulting in chaos and tragedy. It led to the surprise detention and deportation of many people with valid U.S. entry permits as they arrived to U.S. borders, including elderly people and children.
The ban is also hitting home in northeast Ohio. Refugees who waited years to be resettled in a safe place and were preparing to rebuild their lives in Cleveland are now in limbo. Yesterday, a Cleveland Clinic resident was denied entry and returned to Saudi Arabia simply for holding a Sudanese passport.
Cleveland Attorney David Leopold tried to get Customs and Border Protection agents to delay her departure until a hearing on emergency litigation could finish in Brooklyn, but the agents refused and the doctor was sent back. Minutes later, US District Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York issued a temporary restraining orderagainst the government.
Today and tomorrow, protests are being planned in Cleveland to express outrage and solidarity with immigrants, refugees, and Muslims. An airport protest is also happening today in Columbus, and in southwest Ohio one is building for 1pm in Mason. A list of protests developing nationwide is available here.
A clearinghouse of the litigation piling up against these outrageous, un-American policies is being compiled by the University of Michigan Law School.
