New Jersey Protests Trump’s Immigration Ban [VIDEOS, PHOTOS]

NEWARK, NJ — Waves of protesters across North Jersey surged against President Trump’s recent executive order on immigration this weekend, rallying at locations including Newark Airport, the Elizabeth Detention Center, the Hudson County Jail and the municipal green in Teaneck.

The protests, held in response to Trump’s controversial executive order issued on Friday that halts immigration from several countries with large Muslim populations, were organized by several separate social justice groups on less than a day’s notice in concert with dozens of others across the nation.

Trump’s executive order bans immigrants from several countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - from entering the United States for 90 days. The order, which also halted the U.S. refugee program for 120-days, is aimed at stopping “radical Islamic terrorists,” Trump has said.

However, the order also left handfuls of immigrants with valid visas detained at airports across the nation, cut off from their families and stranded in legal limbo.

• See related article: Trump Defends Order On Immigrants, Refugees, Says It Is 'Not A Muslim Ban'

NEWARK AIRPORT

On Saturday, dozens of protesters stood in solidarity with the detained travelers and their families at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The “emergency protest” took place at Terminal B near the international arrivals gate and was held to decry “discriminatory barring of refugees and immigrants,” according to the ACLU of New Jersey.

“We woke up to the horrifying news that the U.S. was denying entrance to refugees who had been vetted and approved to come to our country,” local advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey wrote on an event post about the protest.

“Tonight we go to sleep knowing that - for the moment - refugees cannot be turned back without having their cases fairly heard. This is due to the ACLU's amazing legal work which resulted in a temporary stay against the deportation of anyone who would've been allowed in before Trump's anti-Muslim anti-refugee executive orders.

“It's also because YOU came out to march in Newark Liberty Airport and joined protestors around the country to call out President Trump's unconstitutional and unconscionable Muslim ban. It's also because a brave team of volunteer lawyers at EWR swiftly jumped in to defend and protect the rights of detainees leading to the release of two detained individuals.”

ELIZABETH DETENTION CENTER

On Sunday, about 800 protesters – some with children and other family members – rallied peacefully outside the Elizabeth Detention Center on Evans Street around 3 p.m. to “to make clear that New Jersey says yes to refugees, and no to Islamophobia and discrimination,” the ACLU of NJ wrote.

The Elizabeth facility is managed by the Nashville-based CCA corporation and has “proudly served the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 1997,” according to its website.

Organizing groups at the Elizabeth rally included Make the Road New Jersey, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, 32BJ SEIU , Muslim Community Center of Union County (MCCUC), Immigrant Rights Clinic, Rutgers Law School, Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, Inc., New Jersey Working Families Alliance, Community of Friends in Action, NJ Muslim Coalition, NJ Interfaith Coalition, CAIR New Jersey, NJ Muslim Voters Project, American Muslim Council, Pax Christi NJ, The Latin American Legal Defense & Education Fund (LALDEF), American Friends Service Committee and the ACLU of New Jersey.

TEANECK MUNICIPAL GREEN

Teaneck Together, a progressive women’s advocacy group, helped to organize a pro-immigration rally on Sunday afternoon at the Municipal Green at Cedar Lane and Teaneck Road.

The group called for an immediate repeal of Trump’s “unjust executive order.”

Local politicians attending the Teaneck rally included Bergen County Freeholder Chairwoman Tracy Zur, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Monmouth), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), Bergen County Freeholder Mary Amoroso and Teaneck Councilwoman Gervonn Rice.

Other organizing groups included Jewish and Muslim clergy, as well as representatives from the International Rescue Committee in Elizabeth and the Teaneck-based Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Committee.

HUDSON COUNTY JAIL

Immigration supporters and local Haitian groups gathered outside the Hudson County Correctional Facility on Hackensack Avenue in Kearny for a vigil Saturday night.

The facility typically houses about 350 ICE immigrant detainees while they await conclusion of their removal proceedings or their release via an immigration bond, according to ImmigrationDetention.org.

Organizing groups include the American Friends Service Committee, Faith in New Jersey, First Friends of New York and New Jersey and New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees.

“The Haitian-American community is outraged at the treatment of our fellow Haitian sisters and brothers who are suffering in the Hudson County jail for seeking a better life in America," protester Archange Antoine told NJ.com.

Main Photo: Cory Booker, Twitter

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