After a weekend of heavy protests, lawyers and demonstrators returned to Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, even as federal officials insisted that travelers initially affected by President Trump’s travel ban were no longer being detained.
As of Sunday night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had processed all cases of individuals who were initially affected by the order at airports around the nation, according to Gillian Christensen, acting spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Christensen, however, said in an email that she was unsure whether additional travelers were being processed on Monday.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment.
Protesters and volunteer lawyers began assembling at the Tom Bradley International Terminal late Monday morning. By noon, roughly 20 members of the local United Service Workers West, which represents airport workers under the Service Employees International Union, chanted “No ban, no wall!” in front of the terminal.
The employees had initially planned to picket for higher pay and better contact terms, but decided to weigh in on the ban following events this weekend.
“Our workers were looking around and saying, these people who are being detained, they look like us,” said USWW communications director Elizabeth Strater, who said most of the union members are people of color.
“They don’t want to see their workplace turned into a detention center.”
Trump’s sweeping travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries triggered protests at airports across the nation during the weekend.
At LAX, an undisclosed number of people from countries affected by Trump’s order — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Syria — had been detained despite having valid visas and green cards.
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Supporters of President Trump rally in favor of his immigration ban executive order Saturday at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Protesters rallying against the first travel ban signed by President Trump march around Los Angeles International Airport in February. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Trump supporters gather at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Muhaned El Hindi protests the immigration ban Saturday during a rally at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Mathew Woods, a supporter of President Trump, voices support for an immigration ban during a rally at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Passengers stand in the doorway of a baggage claim area to take pictures and video of marchers protesting the immigration ban of President Trump at LAX on Saturday.
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Supporters of President Trump’s travel ban stand across the street from the #NoBanNoWall protesters at LAX on Saturday.
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Cooper Chvotkin, 6, gets a turn to voice his opinion on the megaphone with other protesters at LAX on Saturday.
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Protesters march through the Tom Bradley International terminal at LAX on Saturday to protest President Trump’s travel ban.
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Abeer Abdelrahman, left, hugs her sister Areej Ali at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Monday after Ali, who has a green card, was able to come through the arrivals area with the help of an attorney after being detained and questioned. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Noor Hindi, left, and Sham Najjar, right, join the protest at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday.
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Attorney’s crowd a small table at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Monday to assist travelers who require help due to President Trump’s travel restrictions.
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Immigration Attorney Monica Glicken, left, listens to Mohamed, right, as she tries to find travelers to help at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Monday to assist travelers who require help due to President Trump’s travel restrictions.
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Hundreds of people protested President Trump’s original travel ban at LAX in January. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block traffic at LAX, stranding motorists at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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Demonstrators take a pizza break while blocking traffic on the upper level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal while police monitor the rally.
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A pro-Trump supporter argues with protesters about the president’s travel ban at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Hundreds sit in on the arrival level of LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal, blocking traffic to protest President Trump’s immigration order.
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Airport police plead with protesters to get off the pavement in order to let stranded motorists exit.
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Protesters block traffic, stranding motorists at the Tom Bradley International Terminal of LAX.
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Muslims pray as hundreds stand in support on the departure level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal during a protest against President Trump’s immigration order. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Police position themselves as a man takes photos on the on the departure level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal during protests to President Donald Trump’s new immigration order.
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Hundreds block traffic on the arrival level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal to protest President Trump’s immigration order.
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People gather at the Tom Bradley International Terminal to protest against President Trump’s immigration order.
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A police officer watches protesters at the lower deck of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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People gather at the Tom Bradley International Terminal to protest President Trump’s immigration order.
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Assmaa Kalm, left, and Rosanna Sounbl, right, protest President Trump’s travel ban at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 29, 2017. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds block traffic on the arrival level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal to protest President Trump’s immigration order.
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Police keep an eye on people who continue to protest at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Hundreds take part in an impromptu sit-in at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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People hang a banner in support of immigrants on a parking structure across the street from the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Meg Heatherly, 27, of Los Angeles holds a “Shame” sign during a protest at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Jan. 29, 2017. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Attorney Lisa Smith joins people at LAX who continue to protest President Trump’s travel ban.
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A lone supporter of President Trump and Vice President Pence is protected by police while a large group of people continue to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Chella, from Sherman Oaks, holds the U.S. flag with words from the tablet on the Statue of Liberty.
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Hundreds of people gather at Los Angeles International Airport to continue protesting President Trump’s travel ban.
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Donald Trump supporters hold signs across the road from protesters at Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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A traveler tries to get by protesters at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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Brothers Adam, left, and Noah Reich show their support of immigrants as they join opponents of Donald Trump’s new immigration order at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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A traveler tries to get by protesters at Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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A protester holds up sign at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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Hassan Al Garaawi, of San Diego, right, looks for his mother-in-law Gish Alsaeedi who has been detained at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Sunday.
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Passengers arrive at LAX as protests continue Sunday over President Trump’s travel ban.
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Izzy Berdan, of Boston wears an American flag as he chants slogans with other demonstrators Sunday during a rally against President Trump’s order that restricts travel to the U.S. by people from seven majority-Muslim nations.
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People gather in Boston’s Copley Square to protest the travel ban enacted by President Trump.
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Demonstrators gather Sunday near the White House to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
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People continue to protest President Trump’s travel ban on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport.
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Attorney Dana Clausen waits on Sunday to help at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX as people continue to protest President Trump’s executive order that led to travelers from several majority-Muslim countries being detained upon arrival.
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Kamryn Taghizadeh, 18, holds up a sign Saturday night as she waits for grandfather Reza Taghizadeh, 78, a minimalist painter who was detained as he arrived at Tom Bradley International Terminal from Iran. The artist and green-card holder was later released.
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Reza Taghizadeh, 78, an artist from Iran who holds a U.S. green card, is released after being detained at Tom Bradley International Terminal.
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Seattle police use pepper spray and push the last group of protesters out of a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport terminal after giving a final dispersal order at about 2 a.m Sunday.
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Saffiya Hrahsheh, center, is helped away from police by Liz Bates, left, and others after being pepper sprayed by officers breaking up protests early Sunday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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Siavosh Naji-Talakar greets his grandmother, Marzieh Moosavizadeh, 75, at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal. She was detained upon arriving from Iran.
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People arrive and LAPD officers stand by at Tom Bradley International Airport at LAX as the protest continues peacefully.
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Protesters gather at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX to oppose President Trump’s refugee ban.
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Saudia Airlines flight attendants wait to pass through a securioty checkpoint at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Saturday.
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Protesters rally against Trump’s refugee crackdown at at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX on Saturday.
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Protesters gather at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX to speak out against President Trump’s refugee policy Saturday.
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Protesters march through Tom Bradley International Terminal to voice opposition to President Trump’s refugee policy.
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Protesters rally against the new immigration order at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
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Protesters hold signs during a protest against Trump’s immigration executive order at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
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Protesters assemble at John F. Kennedy International Airport after two Iraqis were detained while trying to enter the country.
(Craig Ruttle / Associated Press) Homeland Security officials later clarified that green card holders from the affected countries would face additional checks when returning from trips abroad, but suggested they would not be denied entry unless a problem arose.
Areej Ali, 33, experienced the additional scrutiny firsthand Monday, when she returned to California from her native Sudan.
Ali had boarded a plane in Khartoum on Sunday and was detained after a connecting flight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she was nearly sent back to Sudan, said Ali’s sister, Abeer Abdelrahman.
If not for a letter sent to the airline Ali was traveling on by a lawyer that her family hired Sunday — a letter that explained Ali was a green card holder and should be cleared for entry — Ali wouldn’t have been released from Saudi Arabia, her family said.
The missive — sent on letterhead bearing the name of the family’s attorney’s firm, Hueston Hennigan — had news releases attached to it stating that the ban did not apply to green card holders.
“We were desperate as they were threatening to deport her in less than four hours,” said attorney Courtney Black, adding that she had also prepared a habeas petition on Ali’s behalf.
Abdelrahman was waiting for her sister in the arrivals area of the international terminal with other family members Monday. Abdelrahman said her sister was texting her from within LAX that she was being held back for questioning.
After about 90 minutes, Ali finally emerged from the terminal and instantly fell into an embrace with her sister, mother and brother-in-law.
“Never in a million years did I imagine something like this would happen,” said Ali, a software developer. “This is home for me.”
Ali said part of her trip to Sudan was to obtain a Sudanese passport as part of the process to gain her U.S. citizenship.
“We’ve worked so hard to come here to express ourselves and live as we should as humans,” she added. “I felt like in the past three or four days, all my rights had been stripped and everything I’ve worked for had been taken away in a snap.”
Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other public interest law groups worked Sunday to file court papers to release those who were held.
Jennie Pasquarella, director of immigrant rights for the ACLU of California, said her group had filed habeas petitions on behalf of seven people who were detained at LAX on Saturday. All seven were later released, and of those, two elderly women were held for longer than 24 hours, she said.
The group filed a complaint on behalf of U.S.-visa holders who were held in detention by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at LAX and were denied access to legal counsel, said Marcus Benigno, communications and media advocacy director at ACLU of Southern California.
The ACLU was continuing to monitor arrivals at LAX on Monday, he said.
“The issue is not over, far from it,” Benigno said. He noted that there are U.S. visa holders stranded abroad and being denied entry back into the country.
“That is equally wrong,” he said.
Immigration attorneys working at LAX on Sunday estimated that about 20 people were being detained at any given time. A law enforcement source told The Times that 13 people had been detained at Terminal 2 on Saturday night, but each of them held a green card and was eventually released. The source could not provide detention figures for the Tom Bradley International Terminal, the airport’s locus of international travel.
Thousands gathered at the airport Sunday, rallying outside terminals, marching through roadways and blocking traffic. Two people arrested for allegedly blocking the roadway were cited and released, airport police said.
Far fewer protesters assembled on Monday, although they included unionized baggage handlers, janitors and customer service agents.
Khamin Khan, 62, who works at LAX as a lobby agent, said an anti-immigrant mood in the country has made her fearful.
“I’m a citizen and I’m a Muslim, but sometimes I’m afraid of people finding out I’m a Muslim,” said Khan, who wore her work uniform. She said she’s mainly fighting to protect her job but also opposed to Trump’s actions.
“He should be treating people with respect,” she said.
As Khan and others gathered outside the terminal, volunteer attorneys continued to staff a table inside.
As of Monday morning, they had no solid information on whether anyone was still being detained, said Aman Thind, immigration project director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, who is coordinating the lawyers.
Cynthia Santiago, who has a solo immigration practice and spent part of the weekend providing services at LAX, said airport immigration officials have not given out information about possible detainees. The only way lawyers have a sense of whether people are being detained is if family members in the arrivals area say they’ve been waiting for a relative from abroad and haven’t seen them emerge for a long time.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ greater Los Angeles chapter held a news conference in Anaheim on Monday where attendees denounced the travel ban.
“An attack on any community is an attack on all of us,” said Hussam Ayloush, the chapter’s executive director. “The people have spoken… for tolerance, unity, mercy and justice against bigotry.”
Jose Moreno — an Anaheim City Council member who heads Los Amigos, a countywide alliance focusing on politics and civil rights — also spoke out against the ban that he said “works against the interest of the American community.”
Moreno said he had a message for the Trump administration: “You will not divide the city of Anaheim. You will not divide our community. We will stand together.”
Times staff writers Cindy Carcamo, James Queally, Javier Panzar and Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
brittny.mejia@latimes.com
Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia
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UPDATES:
3:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the CAIR news conference and comments from Ali.
12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from the SEIU and ACLU.
10:50 a.m.: This article was updated with details of a CAIR-LA news conference.
This article was originally published at 8:55 a.m.
