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2 UMass Dartmouth professors held due to executive order

File photo/Logan Airport

Two UMass Dartmouth faculty members were detained Saturday afternoon at Boston Logan as a result of new immigration policies from President Donald Trump, said the university in a statement.

The two faculty members are legal residents of the United States with green cards and had been at an academic conference in Paris.

Trump's executive order restricts entry to the U.S. by citizens of seven countries with dominant Muslim populations: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. On Sunday, the White House said that people who have green cards will not be prevented from returning to the U.S., which is a reverse on the original order.

UMass Dartmouth said they worked with federal authorities, elected representatives, immigration lawyers and the ACLU of Massachusetts once they learned the professors were detained. After being held for three hours, the faculty members were released and are now home.

"Now that our colleagues are safe, we want to be clear that we believe the executive order does nothing to make our country safer and represents a shameful ignorance of and indifference to the values that have traditionally made America a beacon of liberty and hope," said the University Interim Chancellor Peyton R. Helm and Provost Mohammad Karim in a joint statement.

A Boston judge, as well as judges in other cities, have ruled to block Trump's immigration ban.