Airlines Again Board Travelers Barred By Travel Order, As Trump Vows To Fight

On Friday night, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily halted the enforcement of President Trump's executive order that bans travelers and immigrants from seven largely Muslim countries. Those bans will resume should the White House win an emergency stay on the order, but on Saturday morning the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it was complying with the ruling and had “suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections” of Trump’s executive order. Qatar Airways, which services many of the predominantly Middle Eastern countries barred by Trump, announced that it had been directed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to board nationals with valid documents from Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. But Qatar Airways wasn't the only airline to release such an announcement Saturday. Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, announced that on the basis of the federal court ruling it would also permit the affected travelers to fly to the U.S.

"However," Lufthansa was careful to note, "short notice changes to the immigration regulations may occur at any time. The final decision regarding immigration lies with the US authorities." In Cairo, airport authorities received a notification Saturday from U.S. officials that they should also halt the enforcement of Trump's travel ban. And Reuters reports that Emirates and Etihad Airways said Saturday they would do so, as well. Meanwhile, in the U.S., multiple media outlets report that CBP spoke with U.S. airlines on a conference call Friday, informing them that after the federal judge's ruling that it was "back to business as usual." CNN adds: "The government was in the process of reinstating visas, the [airline] executive said, adding that airlines would start removing travel alerts from their websites and getting messages out to customers to notify them of the change." Trump, for his part, tweeted a broadside Saturday morning against Judge James Robart's decision, which suspends enforcement of Trump's order while a case brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota is heard in court. "When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!" Trump tweeted. In a subsequent tweet, Trump derided Robart as a "so-called judge," whose decision "is ridiculous and will be overturned!" President Donald Trump is questioning the legitimacy of the federal judge who blocked Trump’s executive order banning refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Tweeting in response to the block, Trump insisted that, “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” The bona fide judge drawing the president’s ridicule is Federal District Court judge James Robart in Washington State, an appointee of President George W. Bush who was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The White House quickly promised to request an emergency stay on the “outrageous” order, but the affected travelers will be totally free to enter the U.S. in the meantime. Later, as NPR's Rebecca Hersher noted, the statement was soon changed to remove the word "outrageous." But the thrust of the message remained the same: The White House said the Justice Department will challenge the judge's decision. Rebecca also reported that travelers blocked from their flights weren't the only ones to be affected by Trump's travel freeze:



Beyond the case brought by the states of Minnesota and Washington, three other states — Massachusetts, New York and Virginia — have also sued the federal government over Trump's executive order.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency tells U.S. airlines that they should board travelers who had been blocked by the executive order addressed in Judge Robart's ruling.