By Canberk Yuksel
NEW YORK (AA) - Pro-immigration lawyers in New York City sued Saturday to stall a travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump after two Iraqis were detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport and denied entry into the country despite having legal visas.
Legal teams from several immigration groups filed a civil lawsuit at a federal court in Brooklyn, according to media reports, as President Trump's executive order limiting refugee flow into the U.S. was put into immediate effect late Friday.
One of the Iraqi men, named in the lawsuit as Hameed Khalid Darweesh, was granted a special immigrant visa after working for the U.S. army for 10 years in Iraq.
The other individual, Haider Sameer Abdulkaleq Alshawi, received his visa earlier this month to join his wife in the U.S., who worked for a U.S. security contractor.
It wasn't immediately clear Saturday morning how many people scheduled to arrive in the U.S. were affected by the ban.
Trump signed an executive action Wednesday to deport undocumented immigrants involved in criminal activity, and another Friday that limits the flow of refugees into the U.S. as a measure against what he called "radical Islamic terrorists".
The second action reportedly involves a months-long entry ban on people from several blacklisted Middle Eastern countries, although President Trump said Christians living in Muslim-majority nations would be given priority to enter the U.S.