Official Calls Trump Travel Ban a 'Massive Success'

ACLU smashes fundraising records
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 30, 2017 4:03 AM CST
Updated Jan 30, 2017 6:19 AM CST
Official Calls Trump Travel Ban a 'Massive Success'
People chant slogans at the Indianapolis International Airport on Sunday during a protest against President Trump's executive order.   (Kelly Wilkinson/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

President Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven countries continued to cause chaos and protests at airports around the country and around the world Sunday, though an administration official insisted it was a "massive success," Reuters reports. The attorneys general of 15 states denounced the Trump order as unconstitutional, and in Canada—where the US Consulate in Toronto will be closed Monday because of a planned protest—officials announced that anybody stranded in the country because of the Trump order will be granted temporary residency. In other coverage:

  • Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain issued a statement Sunday warning that the ban could become a "self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism," CNN reports. Trump tweeted that the statement was "wrong." He accused the senators of being "sadly weak on immigration" and urged them to focus on the issue "instead of always looking to start World War III."

  • After much confusion and conflicting statements about whether the order would apply to green card holders, the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday evening that legal residents would be presumed exempt from the ban, though there will still be "case-by-case determinations," the New York Times reports. Officials said 392 green card holders had already been issued waivers to travel, though it's not clear how many more are still stuck overseas.
  • Politico looks at early immigrant rights groups' court victories against the ban, and warns that some of them are unlikely to last.
  • The American Civil Liberties Union says it smashed fundraising records in the wake of the ban, raising $24 million in online donations over the weekend, USA Today reports. That's six times what the ACLU raises in a typical year, Executive Director Anthony Romero says.
  • The Washington Post profiles Ann Donnelly, the rookie federal judge who issued the first order against the ban in an effort to save a Syrian refugee at immediate risk of deportation.
  • Trump chose Finding Dory as his first White House screening, drawing criticism from the movie's voice stars, who found it ironic that he picked a movie about tolerance, the Telegraph reports. "Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he's preventing it in real life," tweeted Albert Brooks, who voiced Nemo's father, Marlin.
  • In Britain, a petition to cancel a planned Trump visit received almost a million signatures, though a government source told the BBC that it was considered a "populist gesture" and would not affect the state visit.
  • CNN looks at recent terrorist attacks in the US and notes that the number of fatal attacks carried out by refugees since the 1980 Refugee Act stands at zero.
  • The Guardian reports that one of the biggest airport protests in the US was at LAX, where thousands gathered Sunday night chanting "let them in."
(More Trump travel ban stories.)

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