The Latest: Sept. Thousands Demonstrate In Minneapolis
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Somali refugee Habibo Mohamed speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Decatur, Ga.. Mohamed's 20-year-old daughter is unable the leave Somalia due to the travel ban implemented by President Donald Trump. Image: John Bazemore/AP
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on President Donald Trump, his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries and other immigration actions (all times local):
6:16 p.m.
Thousands gathered in downtown Minneapolis to protest President Donald Trump's immigration restrictions.
The demonstration was organized through a Facebook event and shut down several blocks around the U.S. Courthouse Tuesday evening.
Salveen Siddique and her son Aswar are immigrants from Bangladesh and came to the protest with an American flag draped over their shoulders. Siddique says they moved to make their lives beautiful and experience freedom.
Somali-American Sahra Ali says she and her six siblings moved to the U.S. in 2003. She says the temporary immigration ban on predominantly Muslim countries — including Somalia — has propelled Americans into the past.
Ali says many family members are back in Somalia. Now she's afraid that she won't be able to leave the country and be able to get back in.
5:15 p.m.
Some families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks are speaking out against President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries.
In announcing the temporary ban last week, Trump referenced the Sept. 2001 attacks and said the measure was about national security.
But a group of those whose loved ones were killed say the ban, which also bars refugees, is wrong.
Terry McGovern, whose mother was killed at the World Trade Center, says she's "sickened" by Trump's reference of Sept. 11 and is tired of what she calls the "exploitation" of that day.
Other Sept. 11 families support the ban. Debra Burlingame, who lost her brother, says she thinks it's smart to have scrutiny of anyone who wants to come to the U.S.
4:25 p.m.
Somalian refugee Habiba Mohamed is appealing to First Lady Melania Trump to persuade her husband to reverse course on tough new restrictions on refugees.
Mohamed and her husband arrived in Georgia in mid-January but are now separated from their 20-year-old daughter, who planned to fly to the U.S. this week but is now unable to leave a refugee camp in Kenya.
Mohamed says she's appealing to the first lady because she's a mother and "knows the love that a parent has for their child."
3:55 p.m.
A civil rights group in Michigan has sued on behalf of U.S. green-card holders objecting to President Donald Trump's order temporarily banning refugees and immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries.
The Arab-American Civil Rights League argues in the suit filed Tuesday in Detroit's U.S. District Court that the executive action is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities. It represents about a half-dozen legal, permanent residents, some of whom have been turned away from U.S.-bound planes.
League Director Rula Aoun says most plaintiffs live in the Detroit area, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities.
Aoun says green-card holders have a "lawful right to be in the U.S." but have been detained or denied entry.
Trump says the ban is about safety, not religion. It faces numerous legal challenges.
3:35 p.m.
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the rollout of President Donald Trump's executive order restricting travel from seven majority-Muslim countries was "terrible."
Christie says Trump's intention to protect the country from terrorist attacks is right but that the order was explained so "unartfully" that it allowed the president's opponents to mischaracterize it.
He says Trump deserves to be better served by his advisers.
1:10 p.m.
A lawsuit has been filed against the Trump administration on behalf of a Syrian family who was denied entry into the United States at the Philadelphia airport during the weekend.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says the complaint filed Tuesday on behalf of the Asali family alleges President Donald Trump's executive order violates several constitutional guarantees.
The family — including four adults and two children — landed in Philadelphia on Saturday. They planned to settle in Allentown, where family members who are U.S. citizens had bought a home for them.
They were denied entrance and returned to Syria. The families had obtained their visas after a 13-year effort.
1:05 p.m.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling on President Donald Trump to lift his ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries "as soon as possible."
Guterres said Tuesday that countries have the right to avoid infiltration of terrorist organizations — but not based on discrimination related to religion, ethnicity, or a person's nationality.
Guterres warned that "blind measures, not based on solid intelligence, tend to be ineffective as they risk being bypassed by what are today sophisticated global terrorist movements."
He also said such discrimination is against "fundamental principles and values" and "triggers widespread anxiety and anger" that may spur extremist propaganda.
Guterres expressed concern that refugees fleeing conflict and persecution are finding more borders closing, in violation of the protection they are entitled to under international refugee law
1 p.m.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is denying reports that he was not given details of President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration until around the time Trump signed it.
Kelly told reporters he looked at two drafts of the order before the Friday signing and that high-level government lawyers and agency officials were involved in drafting it.
He also said he knew it was coming because Trump had long talked about it as a presidential candidate.
Trump's order temporarily halted the U.S. refugee program and banned entries from citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
People who know Kelly told The Associated Press that he was not aware of the details in the directive until around the time that Trump signed it.
12:50 p.m.
A senior U.S. official says 872 refugees will be allowed into the United States this week despite the Trump administration executive order suspending the U.S. refugees program.
Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, said these refugees would be granted waivers. He said that was allowed for under the order, in instances where refugees were ready for travel and stopping them would cause "undue hardship."
McAleenan said this was being done in concert with the State Department. He said 872 refugees will be arriving this week and will processed for waivers through the end of the week.
He was speaking at a news conference Tuesday about the administration's new immigration restrictions, which also suspends arrival by nationals from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
12:45 p.m.
Iraq's prime minister says a travel ban ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump is an "offense to Iraq," but that he won't take retaliatory measures.
An executive order signed over the weekend temporarily prevents the entry of citizens of Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries. The new U.S. administration says it is necessary to keep out potential terrorists until security procedures can be improved.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a news conference Tuesday that he hopes the order will be changed.
He said the U.S. should be grateful to Iraq because of its "sacrifices in fighting terrorism," but that "the way the order was issued was not good, and I don't want to cause the same offense to the American people."
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have been battling the Islamic State group for more than two years, and are currently trying to drive the extremists from Mosul, the country's second-largest city.
12:30 p.m.
The U.S. Embassy in Israel says Israelis born in the seven Muslim-majority countries under a travel ban ordered by President Donald Trump can still travel to the United States under certain conditions.
A message posted on the embassy website on Tuesday says Israeli passport holders born in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen who do not have a valid passport from their birth country can travel to the U.S. under a valid visa.
The embassy says it's continuing to process visa applications from Israelis born in those countries who don't have a passport from one of the seven countries or have not "declared themselves to be a national of one of those countries."
Hundreds of thousands of Jews born in countries in the Middle East and North Africa settled in Israel after the country's establishment in 1948. Many were automatically stripped of their citizenship by those countries when they left.
It is rare for Israelis to be dual nationals of one of the seven countries and the U.S. Embassy did not specifically say what happens to Israelis who carry a second passport from one of the countries under Trump's ban.
The executive order Trump issued caused confusion among Israelis born in countries affected by the travel ban.
10:45 a.m.
France's prime minister is criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's three-month immigration ban on refugees from Muslim countries as being useless in the fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday that Trump's decision "only aims at exacerbating tensions, creating potential conflicts" and "in the end, the greatest inefficiency regarding results in the fight against terrorism."
Cazeneuve, who was interior minister in 2015 and 2016 when deadly terror attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists in France, said the government reinforced its counterterrorism law and boosted security forces while preserving "national unity" and the values of the country.
He says the U.S. ban "is useless because it ostracizes some countries" and "makes it impossible to welcome people who are persecuted in their country and need protection from free nations."
9:45 a.m.
The Netherlands' firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders has clashed in Parliament with the Dutch foreign minister over U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban for people from seven Muslim nations.
In a debate Tuesday, Wilders — seen by many as a Dutch equivalent of Trump — paid tribute to the new U.S. leader, saying, "Finally America has a president, finally a country in the West has a president, who not only lives up to his promises but who says 'the freedom of my citizens is more important than anything.'"
Foreign Minister Bert Koenders hit back, saying, "If you want to fight terror, then the worst thing you can do is trample human rights."
The Dutch government has updated its travel advisory for the U.S. to warn of the effects of Trump's new policy on Dutch citizens who have dual nationality with one of the seven nations affected.
9:20 p.m.
The leaders of Germany and Sweden are decrying the immigration restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump and both say they're seeking more clarity on how citizens will be affected.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "the fight against terrorism does not justify such general action against particular countries and people of a particular faith." Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called the move "counterproductive" and "totally unacceptable."
The two leaders were speaking at a press conference in Stockholm Tuesday.
Merkel also stressed Germany's commitment to the independence of the European Central Bank and trading "in fair competition with everyone else" on world markets.
That came after Peter Navarro, who is to lead a new White House council on trade, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that Germany is using a "grossly undervalued" euro to "exploit" the U.S. and its European partners.
3:35 a.m.
Iran's foreign minister has reiterated that Iran will no longer issue visas for Americans, describing the decision as a "counter-action" to Trump's executive order banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, from entering the United States.
Mohammad Javad Zarif added that "if there is an exception, it will be reviewed through the mechanism which has been created in the Foreign Ministry." Zarif spoke to the "Khorasan daily" on Tuesday on the sidelines of a joint press conference with his visiting French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault. About 5 million tourists visit Iran each year, most of them coming from Iraq and other neighboring countries. Europeans have also been coming to Iran, but Americans represent far less than 1 percent of the total — or about 50,000 — and are subjected to rigorous background checks. Zarif first announced the reciprocal move by Tehran on Saturday, when Trump's visa restrictions took effect. At the time, he said Iran's ban will not be retroactive and that all Americans with already valid Iranian visas "will be gladly welcomed."
3:35 a.m.
Iran's oil minister says there is no ban on American companies working in Iran's oil industry.
The semi-official ILNA news agency on Tuesday is quoting Bijan Zanganeh as saying: "American companies face no ban for entering our oil industry."
However, Zanganeh said American companies "have not directly applied" to work in Iran's oil industry, so far.
This is the first such remark by Iran after an executive order by U.S. president Donald Trump on Friday banned immigration and visa processing for Iranians alongside six other Muslim countries.
In January, Iran's Oil Ministry published a list of 29 international companies qualified to bid for oil and gas projects following the lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear accord that went into effect last year.
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