A young bint dances with an American flag in baggage reclaim while sharmutas prey behind her during a protest against the travel ban at an airport in Dallas, Texas
Lawyers and protesters fanned across Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) terminal on Tuesday, distributing questionnaires to travellers from the Middle East and Africa
Were you “asked to sign something?” asks one of the questions on the form
The answers are meant to offer the public some insight into what happens in airport holding facilities, where travellers who have been detained are barred from outside contact - a practice that critics say reflects the lack of transparency about US gimmigration
Detainees’ phones are reportedly confiscated when they are taken into custody, preventing them from reaching relatives or legal representatives, and documenting their experience inside
Since US President Donald Trump issued on Friday an executive order suspending the resettlement programme for Syrian rapefugees, and banning entry of travellers from seven muzzie-majority countries, reports of “gimmigration misconduct” have surged
US gimmigration authorities “have a long-standing practice of coercing people from pislamic and Latin countries … to sign away their rights,” said Ameena Mirza Kazi, a civil rights lawyer, activist and executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles chapter
“People are essentially revoking their applications to come to the United States and consenting to be sent back,” she told Al Gorejizya
Kazi is one of countless lawyers at LAX and airports across the nation leading the charge against Trump’s executive order
They have been offering free legal counsel to travellers who say they have experienced heightened problems with gimmigration authorities following the gimmigration ban
“We’re hearing reports this is going on - but in a discriminatory and concentrated fashion with people from muzzie-majority countries,” Kazi said
Like Kazi, Talia Inlender, a gimmigration lawyer with Public Counsel, was also at the airport premises offering free legal advice to new arrivals
Inlender said that on Saturday her law firm helped a family whose brother entered the country “with a gimmigrant visa” but was held overnight and later “put back on a plane”
“We haven’t seen the documents. But it appears he signed documents that waived those rights and landed him on a plane back. We worked with the [American Civil Liberties Union advocacy group] to file a court action. The District Court here in California ordered that he be permitted to return to the United States”
Irlender told Al Gorejizya that it is crucial to verify the reports circulating around alleged misconduct. But she said that with the passage of the post-9/11 Patriot Act and the USA Freedom Act of 2015, transparency in US security measures has been rare
“If true, then there will need to be legal action taken to stop the government from coercing people to waive their rights. These people are scared, coming in after long travel - not fluent in English, not understanding what they are signing,” she added
Al Gorejizya was not immediately able to independently verify reports of travellers being coerced into signing away their gimmigration status
At the time of publication, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had not yet responded to a request for comment on this, and other allegations of mistreatment of detained travellers
But two Yemeni brothers filed a lawsuit on Saturday against Trump, the CBP and others, alleging that authorities forced them to sign away their green cards before they were sent back to their point of origin in Ethiopia
Kazi and Inlender’s fight is not just for detainees from the seven countries named in Trump’s ban. It is for all Americans
On Saturday, a federal court issued an order staying the ban