Immigration lawyers running out of work at JFK

NEW YORK—At John F. Kennedy International Airport, a rotating team of lawyers and translators has camped in Terminals 4, 7, and 8 for three days. The group of 637 lawyers, calling themselves The Coalition of JFK Immigration Attorneys, along with translators from all over New York, have volunteered to help new international arrivals confused by or detained under the president’s executive order on immigration and refugees.

But since the flurry of passenger detentions and protests on Sunday, Terminal 4 has mostly returned to normal. The hall is flooded with people waiting for their friends and relatives to arrive. The legal team occupies the Central Diner, with iron bars fencing its workspace. People seeking help regarding their family members and friends arriving from the countries affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order approach them, but not frequently.

The lawyers are “helping find out what is happening with people who have arrived but not emerged from Customs and Immigration,” said Imara Jones, a spokeswoman for NOBANJFK, the group offering legal and language services. The lawyers figure out whether the people reported as detained have a visa or green card, then they provide legal advice.

The JFK lawyers have fewer arrival cases now, in part because the executive order forced refugee resettlement agencies to cancel all travel plans for those granted asylum. Those caught in transit when the order went into effect Friday night encountered the most confusion. Green card holders from the seven Muslim-majority nations on the banned list also have had trouble, mostly with conflicting information from the Trump administration.

The lawyers are advising travelers not to voluntarily withdraw their visa applications when threatened with deportation, not to sign anything they do not understand, and to tell waiting family and friends, before the flight, to report to the legal team if they are detained. The lawyers say they “do not know that a person is detained until someone else tells them.”

In Terminal 1, officials detained and interrogated a couple coming from Yemen. After a few hours, they released the couple, who refused to talk to the media. According to the legal team, many of the people coming out of interrogation are scared to divulge what sorts of questions they are being asked.

By Monday, 41 travelers detained at JFK had been released and two deported. One person remains detained.