In the finest tradition of the profession, lawyers from New Jersey and elsewhere recently joined thousands at airports, detention centers and large cities protesting the Trump administration’s poorly conceived “executive action” halting entry into the U.S. of persons from seven majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Lawyers offered their services to airline passengers from those countries who were being detained and threatened with expulsion despite having valid visas or permanent resident (“green card”) status. Some lawyers were able to obtain emergency court orders restraining enforcement of at least part of the executive action. Others found themselves attempting to obtain compliance with those court orders from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guards who had not been trained in how to lawfully carry out the administration’s “pause,” and who reportedly held and interrogated even children and the elderly. The detentions and interrogations swept up persons who had worked with the United States to combat the very terrorist organizations that the executive action was supposedly intended to subdue.
The intervention of lawyers and others brought the glare of the legal process to the immediate flaws of the executive action. As we express our appreciation to those who stood up at this critical juncture, we also hope that any future actions will carefully take into account the rights of all concerned people. If not, we are confident that lawyers will again come to the aid of those who need protection.
