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Protests Against 'Muslim Ban' Take Place At Detroit Metro Airport

DETROIT (WWJ) - Hundreds of people gathering at Metropolitan Airport who have no intention of traveling, demonstrating instead, their disdain with recent presidential orders that crack down on refugees and immigrants from certain countries.

Several organizations, activists and organizers joined forces at the airport protesting what is being called a "Muslim Ban" in the United States.

The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay halting deportations under President Donald Trump's executive order.

Fatima Salman co-organizer Michigan Muslim Community Council says this ban will negatively affect thousand of families in the state.

"The stay was granted for those people only in transit, so this still doesn't - it's not a permanent stay first of all, it's a temporary stay, for those in transit --so anybody that's still trying to travel - they still can't come through and I don't know if it's been told the White House overruled the federal stay - late last night, early this morning," says Salman.

Trump signed an executive order Friday setting "new vetting measures" to keep "radical Islamic terrorists" out of the United States.

The order indefinitely stopped Syrian refugee and immigrant entry into the U.S., suspended all refugee entry for four months and suspended refugee admissions for three months from countries with terror concerns, naming majority-Muslim nations including Iraq, Syria and Iran. The new president and his supporters say his measures are needed to strengthen national security.

Stephanie Kenner, of the Women's March in Michigan says people cannot stay silent in the face of such egregious human rights violations.

We wanted to be able to stand in solidarity with the other protests -- that spontaneously and organically occurred yesterday, the airport seemed to be a galvanizing space, and we've been in contact with DTW and they'll been very accommodating and supportive of this rally," says Kenner.

She says the location of the protest is significant -- "showing that we are a community that welcomes refugees and don't want them out."

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