MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Milwaukee protesters decry immigration ban

Annysa Johnson, Maggie Angst, and Jacob Carpenter

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee on Saturday, voicing opposition to President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants from several predominately Muslim countries.

Protesters gather outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee on Saturday in opposition to the executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday that bans refugees from seven Muslim nations, at least temporarily.

The roughly 100 protesters, many of them Iranian-born University of Wisconsin System faculty and graduate students, chanted and carried signs saying, "No ban, no wall" and "I'm a scientist, not a terrorist," among others.

"I personally am watching this very closely," said Soroush Aslani, an assistant professor at UW-Whitewater, who holds a green card and has lived in the United States for almost nine years.

Trump's executive order prohibits citizens of seven Middle Eastern and African countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — from entering the U.S., even if those foreign nationals have green cards or visas allowing them to live in the U.S.

As a result, if a citizen of those seven countries is already in the U.S., he or she cannot leave the U.S. and expect to re-enter. The immigration restrictions will stay in effect for at least 90 days, and Trump said they are designed to prevent violent Islamic extremists from entering the U.S.

Across the country, news outlets reported of travelers who were detained Friday night and Saturday morning after flights to the U.S. from the seven countries covered by the executive order. A spokesman for General Mitchell International Airport directed questions about any local detainees to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which didn't respond to requests for information Saturday.

Aslani, for one, said he has canceled a trip next month to visit family in Canada, out of fear he won't be able to re-enter the U.S. He said he has a friend who will now be separated from his wife and child because she won't be able to return from a visit to Iran.

"Originally, when we were planning this, it seemed that it would only affect people under visa. But now it seems like people who have green cards might also be affected," Aslani said.

"You can see how this jeopardizes the lives of people. A family living here legally, who became permanent residents and are close to being citizens, overnight the family is divided with no prospect of coming together."

Unlike visas, which are issued for a specific time and purpose, green cards grant foreign nationals the right to live and work permanently in the United States.

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Trump's executive order also suspends the entry of all refugees to the U.S. for 120 days, halts the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and gives priority to Christian refugees once the U.S. starts taking refugees again. Civil rights advocates argue that amounts to a religious test for immigration, which violates U.S. law.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville said he supports Trump's executive order. During the presidential campaign, Ryan opposed Trump's call for a more sweeping ban on all Muslims entering the country.

"President Trump is doing the right thing to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country," Ryan said in a statement.

Munjed Ahmad, an immigration lawyer in Milwaukee, said he has been flooded with phone calls since Trump signed the order.

"It been 24 hours of just nauseous feeling," Ahmad said. "This executive order flies in the face of who we are and what we are as a country built on the backs of immigrants."