{"id":50042,"date":"2017-01-31T15:58:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=50042"},"modified":"2017-02-01T17:48:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T23:48:56","slug":"protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shen Lu<\/strong><\/p>\n

America feels like a \u201chuge prison\u201d to Hadia Zarzour now.<\/p>\n

Zarzour, 37, a Muslim Syrian who holds a green card and works as a mental health therapist in Chicago, can\u2019t leave her host country at the moment, nor can she reunite with her family due to come next week, whom she hasn\u2019t seen for years, thanks to the immigration ban that President Donald Trump signed on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"A
A plea by a youngster among thousands of protesters at Chicago O’Hare International Airport Sunday against President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astonished, angry, dismal, Zarzour protested along with thousands at Chicago O\u2019Hare International Airport on Sunday against Trump\u2019s new immigration policies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a> blocks Syrian refugees from coming into the United States indefinitely, suspends the entry of refugees from any country for 120 days, and bars immigration admissions from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days on national security grounds. These countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like the whole world is unstable,\u201d said Zarzour, who’s a co-founder of Syrian Community Network, a nonprofit organization for refugees, in an interview. \u201cIt reminds me of the dictatorship of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. So it\u2019s very, very sad to see it happening here in this free world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also a feeling of being bullied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman rights is really like a joke and we really don\u2019t matter,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhat matters is the leadership and the power.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sweeping travel ban has sparked protests in major airports and landmarks across the country. Authorities took more than a dozen travelers into custody Saturday at O\u2019Hare, the second busiest airport in the nation, in response to the executive order. The detainees were later released after a federal judge temporarily halted deportations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A swell of activists rallied for\u00a0a second consecutive day\u00a0<\/span>Sunday outside Terminal 5 at O\u2019Hare, carrying colorful handmade signs, demanding that Trump rescind his ban and calling for release of the remaining detainees.<\/p>\n

Trump fired his acting attorney general<\/a>, Sally Yates, on Monday night, after she defiantly refused to defend his executive order. Protesters are planning another rally at O’Hare Wednesday.<\/p>\n

As of Sunday night, two travelers remained detained, said Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network, at the rally.<\/p>\n

Elected officials and advocates spoke at the rally in condemnation of Trump\u2019s “racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic” policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a fair and welcoming county and we have every intention of remaining that because that\u2019s what makes our county great and that\u2019s what makes our country great,\u201d said Cook County Commissioner Jesus \u201cChuy\u201d Garcia<\/a>. \u201cWe gather here to specially and specifically say that there is no room in our county or in our country for any hatred, any religious intolerance or discrimination. It is unAmerican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zarzour said she was advised not to leave the U.S. until the uncertainty settles. Acknowledging that she is much better off than fellow Syrians back home, the former Fulbright scholar said her compatriots are in dismay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean refugees are victims, so they don\u2019t know what to do with themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially for the Syrians, why we are like a tool everyone is using us and saying, \u2018We don\u2019t want you?’ We are really victims. We are not terrorists as they claim to say in the media. We are paying the price of dictatorship for the whole world\u2019s benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicagoans in solidarity<\/h2>\n

Ira Piltz, a Chicago-based lawyer, volunteered to help incoming travelers at O\u2019Hare Terminal 5, returning from vacation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure that people know that they have a right to counsel,\u201d Piltz said. “Immigrants that have a status, either a visa or a lawful permanent resident status, are entitled to due process. And those on refugee status also have a right to have their claims evaluated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piltz said he thought the order was “overbroad and vague,” calling it \u201cbad policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no problem with regulated immigration, but we have a rule of law,\u201d said Piltz, whose wife is an immigrant from South Africa. \u201cJust because you are the president, you make a promise in a campaign, doesn\u2019t mean you get to circumvent every legal process and every safe card that exists to make sure the laws a) make sense, and b) can be carried out in a way that doesn\u2019t do more harm than good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demonstrators of various ages and ethnicities called for action by everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet involved,\u201d said Emily Jones, 29, a political activist from Indiana. “You can\u2019t afford to stay on the sidelines anymore. Everyone likes to think, \u2018If i had been alive during Nazi Germany, I wouldn\u2019t have been one of those Germans that just sat there and did nothing.\u2019 You are living that time now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Rossof, 70, a retired teacher and veteran protester, said she was deeply troubled by Trump\u2019s latest actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very worried, and I am very disappointed in my country,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m obviously old. I\u2019ve been through a lot of protests in the 1960s, but there is a certain urgency about what\u2019s going on now because it\u2019s so fast, the impacts are so significant, and it seems to be so chaotic and unthought-out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saddened, Rossof became a monthly donor to the American Civil Liberties Union for the first time on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure I support their good efforts because these are big constitutional issues that are coming along,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The ACLU reported a record $24 million of donation <\/a>over the weekend, six times its average annual online donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping this is only a nightmare”<\/h2>\n

Criticism has also come from Silicon Valley. A parade of executives<\/a> of tech giants, from Facebook to Google, from Microsoft to Amazon, have condemned Trump\u2019s immigration ban.<\/p>\n

Lyft, a car-hailing startup, pledged to donate $1 million<\/a> to the ACLU over the next four years.<\/p>\n

Zarzour said she was grateful for the generosity and solidarity Americans across the board have expressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these actions, even a protest like this, is what keeps us going as Syrians and Muslims because we feel the support and we feel like heard,\u201d Zarzour said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump defended his travel ban via Twitter, as usual. In a Monday posting, he said: \u201cThere is nothing nice about searching for terrorists before they can enter our country. This was a big part of my campaign. Study the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the “bad” would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad “dudes” out there!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet Zarzour hasn\u2019t lost hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping this is only a nightmare and this will change by the determination of the people and hopefully keep America as a host for refugees and immigrants and a place for their safety,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Hadia Zarzour, a Muslim Syrian protests at Chicago O’Hare International Airport Sunday.(Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shen Lu America feels like a \u201chuge prison\u201d to Hadia Zarzour now. Zarzour, 37, a Muslim Syrian who holds a green card and works as a mental health therapist in Chicago, can\u2019t leave her host country at the moment, nor can she reunite with her family due to come next week, whom she hasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":50142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2951,3516],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-50042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-politicsnational-security","category-winter-2017","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nProtesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Shen Lu America feels like a \u201chuge prison\u201d to Hadia Zarzour now. Zarzour, 37, a Muslim Syrian who holds a green card and works as a mental health therapist in Chicago, can\u2019t leave her host country at the moment, nor can she reunite with her family due to come next week, whom she hasn\u2019t […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-31T21:58:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-01T23:48:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lushen2015\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lushen2015\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-31T21:58:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-01T23:48:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0d5c71315904968c4250c49d3acf0e11\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":680,\"caption\":\"Hadia Zarzour, a Muslim Syrian protests Sunday at Chicago O'Hare International Airport Sunday. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0d5c71315904968c4250c49d3acf0e11\",\"name\":\"lushen2015\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abb0b60371afa867ec5d7374fd1ca5ce9ba317c6d3746839e182c7affd42adc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abb0b60371afa867ec5d7374fd1ca5ce9ba317c6d3746839e182c7affd42adc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"lushen2015\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/lushen2015\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Shen Lu America feels like a \u201chuge prison\u201d to Hadia Zarzour now. Zarzour, 37, a Muslim Syrian who holds a green card and works as a mental health therapist in Chicago, can\u2019t leave her host country at the moment, nor can she reunite with her family due to come next week, whom she hasn\u2019t […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2017-01-31T21:58:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-01T23:48:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"lushen2015","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"lushen2015","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/","name":"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-31T21:58:27+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-01T23:48:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0d5c71315904968c4250c49d3acf0e11"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/HADIA-Zarzour-1.jpg","width":1100,"height":680,"caption":"Hadia Zarzour, a Muslim Syrian protests Sunday at Chicago O'Hare International Airport Sunday. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protest-trump-immigration-executive-order-ohare-chicago\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Protesters rock O\u2019Hare over immigration ban"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0d5c71315904968c4250c49d3acf0e11","name":"lushen2015","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abb0b60371afa867ec5d7374fd1ca5ce9ba317c6d3746839e182c7affd42adc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1abb0b60371afa867ec5d7374fd1ca5ce9ba317c6d3746839e182c7affd42adc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"lushen2015"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/lushen2015\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/379"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}