Federal judge in Boston blocks Trump's immigration ban

BOSTON — A federal judge in Boston has put a halt on President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban.

After a day of protests around the country, including at Logan Airport, judges in several cities have moved to block Trump’s executive order banning travel to the United States from several Middle Eastern countries.

This ruling will be in place for 7 days, allowing legal immigrants from 7 predominantly Muslim countries to continue entering the U.S. and forbids federal officials from detaining or deporting anyone already in this country legally.

Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspended all refugees from entering the country for 120 days and blocked all Syria refugees indefinitely.

It also barred entry into the U.S. for anyone who is a citizen of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

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The last part of the order even applied to people who had already gone through a strict vetting process and received visas and even ‘green cards.’

Under the president's order, those people would only be allowed back in the U.S. on a case-by-case basis overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

People who were traveling overseas were kept off their flights or not allowed through customs once they landed at U.S. airports.

Saturday night, a federal judge in Brooklyn blocked part of the Trump's order, ruling the government could not automatically deport anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid green card or visa.

However, the ruling did not say those people must be let into the country and it did not address whether Trump's immigration action was constitutional.

Just before 2 a.m., two federal judges in Boston took it a step further, ruling Trump's action is unconstitutional and clearing the way for green card and visa holders to get into the United States.

However, the ruling only blocks the action for seven days. That ruling means anyone who currently has a green card or visa will still be allowed to come here to the United States for that time.

The ruling comes after the American Civil Liberties Union and others filed a lawsuit in Boston on behalf of two UMass-Dartmouth professors who are originally from Iran. Both professors are Muslim and have green cards, but they were detained and questioned for about three hours Saturday after landing at Logan.

Both are permanent residents here in the U.S.

FOX25 was at Logan when an Iranian professor from Tufts was detained after returning from a trip to Iran. He says federal agents questions him about his trip for about an hour and a half.

The ruling also forbids federal officials from forcing legal immigrants to go through extra security screenings because of President Trump's order.

Cox Media Group