Protests across US airports NRI lands in soup for ‘killing’ Trump
Volunteer lawyers throng major airports, offering pro bono help to detained families
New York, Jan. 29: Hundreds of thousands of people are continuing to gather at major airports across the US to protest the ban announced by President Donald Trump on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, extending solidarity to those affected as chaos and fear gripped individuals trying to enter the country.
As news of immigrants, even those holding green cards, being held and banned from flying into the US and entering the country spread, protesters started gathering at some of the biggest US airports. A few reports also claimed that officials from Homeland Security were inspecting social media feeds and phonebooks of certain arrivals.
The ban has impacted several individuals, who had valid US visas and green cards and who had travelled abroad for work or on personal visits. Besides New York’s busy JFK airport, scenes of chaos and protests quickly poured in from other key ports of entry in Boston, Los Angeles and in Houston.
Hapless individuals, whose family members were stuck at airports or were not allowed to board flights to the US took to social media to vent their anger and frustration.
“Three weeks ago my wife and my newborn daughter went to Iran so that she can visit her grandparents for the first time. It is not clear they can come back to the US. And this feeling eats me alive,” Amin Karbasi, who one person said was a professor at Yale, tweeted.
Lawyers began to throng airports, offering to provide assistance to those detained. Volunteer lawyers worked pro-bono on preparing habeas corpus petitions for detainees at JFK. Meanwhile, two travel agencies in Iran said they had been asked by Etihad, Emirates and Turkish Airlines not to sell US tickets or allow Iranians holding US visas to board US-bound flights. — Agencies Houston, Jan. 29: An Indian-origin teacher has been suspended after a video of a controversial classroom stunt that shows her firing a water gun at an image of President Donald Trump and yelling “die” went viral online.
Payal Modi, an art teacher at Adamson High School in Dallas, Texas, was caught on camera shooting a squirt gun as a video of President Trump at his Inauguration ceremony projected onto a whiteboard.
An eight-second video was posted to a personal Instagram account on January 20, the date of Mr Trump’s inauguration, showing Ms Modi holding a water gun, pointing it at an image of Mr Trump projected onto a whiteboard, and yelling “Die!” as she shoots the gun.
Some students admit Ms Modi’s actions were inappropriate, but ultimately, the majority believe the teacher was just making a joke.