2 Iraqis file lawsuit after being detained in US

Washington, Jan 29: Lawyers for two Iraqis with ties to the US military who had been granted visas to enter the US have filed a lawsuit against President Dold Trump and the US government after they were detained when they arrived in New York. The lawsuit could represent the first legal challenge to Trump’s controversial executive order, which indefinitely suspends admissions for Syrian refugees and limits the flow of other refugees into the US by instituting what the President has called “extreme vetting” of immigrants, CNN reported on Saturday. According to court papers, both men legally were allowed to come into the US but were detained in accordance with Trump’s move to ban travel from several Muslim-majority tions. One of the men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who worked as an interpreter for the US during the Iraq War, was released from detention early Saturday afternoon. “America is the land of freedom,” Darweesh told reporters at the airport shortly after his release. “America is the greatest tion.” A source with knowledge of the case confirmed Darweesh will be allowed into the US due to provisions in Trump’s order that allow the State and Homeland Security departments to admit individuals into the US on a case-by-case base for certain reasons, including when the person is already in transit and it would cause undue hardship and would not pose a threat to the security of the US. (IANS)