The American Civil Liberties Union had filed the complaint this morning.
The stay applies to those currently within the US, but not necessarily to anyone who trying to enter the country in the future. It also does not mean that detainees will be admitted or released, only that they will not be deported, which the ACLU reports had been scheduled to start for some of those detained as early as 9:30 pm tonight.
Leaving the hearing, immigrants rights attorney Lee Gelernt explained, "The judge, in a nutshell, saw through what the government was doing and gave us what we wanted, which was to block the Trump order… and not allow the government to remove anybody who's come and is caught up in the order, nationwide."
He also said the judge had promised that the ACLU would receive a list of names of those detained.
— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 29, 2017
"We're going to go see each of the people, provide counsel, try and get them out of detention right now, but at a minimum, they will not be returned back to danger," he said.
Gelernt said the case would be heard sometime in the end of February.
The bans enacted January 27 put a 90-day ban on entry to the United States for refugees from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, including those holding valid visas or already living in the US on green card status.
— Vivian Ho (@VivianHo) January 29, 2017
The Department of Homeland Security said it had not seen a copy of the emergency stay, Reuters reports. A senior Homeland Security official said that about 375 travellers have been affected by the ban.
