City attorney demands list of detained travelers
Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security turn over a list of LAX travelers detained, questioned or returned to their country of origin under President Trump’s travel ban.
Feuer on Friday sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan and Los Angeles Area Port Director Mitchell Merriam seeking to verify that the federal agencies operating at Los Angeles International Airport complied with two court orders last week.
The restraining orders issued by courts in New York and Los Angeles enjoined federal agents from removing individuals with approved refugee applications or valid immigrant and nonimmigrant visas from the seven nations named in Trump’s executive order.
Feuer said he was denied access to the incoming immigration area on Jan. 27 and was told a high-level federal official would provide answers, but he said he was never given information.
The city prosecutor asked for a detailed accounting of those who landed with passports or legal status and were questioned, confined or subject to surveillance from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Feuer also wants to know of any who were sent back or who voluntarily returned. He is also requesting details of their travel and whether any documentation or passports were seized.
Feuer has been a vocal opponent of the executive order. The Democratic city attorney’s letter is the latest move in a legal battle over the travel directive.