Protesters stand against Trump’s ‘un-American’ travel ban at McCarran

By Jesse Granger

Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017 | 6:42 p.m.

Protesters filled Terminal 3 at McCarran International Airport on Sunday afternoon to speak out against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

More than 200 protesters gathered in a giant circle, hoisted cardboard signs in the air and recited anti-Trump chants for hours.

Led by a megaphone, chants of, “Love trumps hate,” “If we don’t get justice, you don’t get peace” and “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here,” echoed through the terminal.

While most held signs, bearded veteran Jorge Carreno paced in the back of the crowd with two flags over his shoulder — one American and the other U.S. Marine Corps.

Carreno served in the Marines for five years, touring in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“When we went over there, we were under the impression that we were liberating people and helping them with dictatorship,” Carreno said. “This ban really goes against everything that we believe in.”

Similar protests were held in airports across the U.S. this weekend.

The executive order signed by Trump on Friday bans citizens of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. Saturday evening, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued an emergency stay, stopping deportations of those already in the country or in transit.

According to Amy Rose, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Nevada (ACLU), no one has been detained at McCarran, but several people were held for questioning for more than three hours.

“Per ACLU Nevada, nobody has been detained or deported from this airport,” Viridiana Vidal, CEO of La Firma Communications and Creative Solutions, said in an email. “Yesterday we helped a couple from Syria that was held longer than normal but never officially detained. ACLU has no knowledge of people that have been officially detained or deported.”

Nevada’s National Organization for Woman (NOW), which organized today’s protest, was given permission by Clark County Director of Aviation Rosemary Vassiliadis.

“A lot of our members feel very strongly about this issue because it impacts women and children disproportionately,” Nevada NOW President Emeritus Jessica Brown said. “Many of the refugees coming to this part of the United States specifically are unaccompanied minors fleeing severe violence in Central America, and some from Syria.”

While Metro Police had about a dozen officers standing watch for the protest, there were no issues.

“We fully anticipated that this would be a very peaceful activity,” Brown said. “The police have been great. They just want to keep the travelers and everybody safe, and Metro has been really great throughout the process.”

One of the loudest moments of the protest came when state Sen. Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, spoke to the crowd.

“I got some text messages and saw it on Facebook, and I knew immediately that I needed to show up to support our immigrant community,” Ford said. “This is un-American. This is not who we are. Our country was built on immigrants, and for this man, for no reason, to come out and do a blanket ban on certain countries that are Muslim just demonstrates how out of touch he is with the rest of society.”

There were about a dozen practicing attorneys in the crowd, there to lend their expertise as well as a voice.

“A lot of us have family or friends that are permanent residents or green card-holders,” said Saira Haseebullah, a UNLV graduate who currently practices law in the valley. “Las Vegas in specific has a huge Middle Eastern population, so this is no longer a foreign issue or an issue on the horizon. This is an issue that is hitting us in our daily lives right now.”

It was the second day of protests at the airport, but Saturday’s turnout was much smaller.

“These last couple days have been terrifying and disheartening, but also inspiring at the same time,” Rose said. “The executive order from the Trump administration is unconstitutional, un-American and shameful, but it’s great to see people speaking out.”

Standing passionately in the center of all the pandemonium, suited from head to toe in denim and occasionally shouting on the megaphone, was Seth Morrison.

Morrison is on the board of directors for the Jewish Voice of Peace in Las Vegas and has become a full-time activist since retiring.

The travel ban hits Morrison close to the heart. His grandparents were immigrants from Eastern Europe, who fled to the U.S. to escape tyranny. His grandfather, Louis Schoffel, came over in 1910. His great-grandmother, Raize Schoffel, was killed in the Holocaust when she couldn’t obtain a visa to the U.S.

“As a Jew I believe that we have to support all peoples and freedom for all,” Morrison said. “I’m Jewish, and the organization I work with is a Palestinian human rights group, and we started well before Donald Trump was president to network against Islamophobia. We have seen how our Muslim brothers and sisters have been increasingly discriminated against. I’m here because in the 1930s nobody stood up for my people. There were no Americans marching in the street, and so now I’m here because I can’t let this happen to others.”

The protest lasted about three hours and ended with the crowd sitting on the tile floor of Terminal 3 until they were able to speak to an airport official.

“We come together to express our heartfelt thoughts against an action that we think contravenes who we are as people,” Ford said, “and we will continue to do this for the 200 weeks that this man is president.”