Donald Trump immigration ban: Detained Iraqi refugee says 'America is the land of freedom'

The former interpreter was one of 12 people held at JFK Airport

Hameed Darweesh spoke shortly after being released from detention (Twitter)

An Iraqi refugee released from detention at JFK Airport has spoken of his love of America and his belief it was the land of freedom.

Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who worked on behalf of the US government in Iraq for 10 years, was one of 12 refugees being held at the airport after the enforcement of Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

On Saturday morning, lawyers for Mr Darweesh filed a habeas corpus lawsuit, seeing his release. At around lunchtime, Mr Darweesh, who was travelling with his wife and three children, was set free.

“America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world,” said Mr Darweesh, who said that he liked Mr Trump.

Mr Darweesh, who was given permission to enter the US because he had been threatened over his work with the US military as an interpreter, said he was heartened by those people who had come to his support. Their actions, he said, reaffirmed to him his belief in American values.

“In Iraq, we know that America is the land of the free,” he said.

Another detainee, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, had flown to the US to join his wife, who had worked for a US contractor. After they were detained, lawyers for all of the men filed a suit in the early hours of Saturday morning, seeking their release.

Mr Trump’s order, signed on Friday, means that Syrian refugees are banned from entry until further notice. Nationals of six further countries, including Iran and Iraq, will be banned from entering the US for 90 days.

Meanwhile, the entire US refugee admissions programme is suspended for 120 days, and a lower cap on numbers introduced. Green Card holders from the seven countries are also affected.

“Unfortunately, Donald Trump is basing his policies on bigotry and fear, rather than data,” Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Independent. “There is no evidence that refugees pose a threat to the US.”

According to the habeas corpus petition filed in New York, Mr Darweesh worked as an interpreter for the Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Baghdad and Mosul starting shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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It said that Mr Darweesh, 53, who arrived with his wife and three children on Friday evening, “was directly targeted twice for his association with the US Armed Forces”.

After he was released, Mr Darweesh thanked those who had worked to free him.

“This is the humanity. This is the soul of America. This is what pushed me to leave my country to move here,” he said. “I’m very, very thankful to the people who came to support me.”

Asked for his view on Mr Trump, he said he liked him. “But he is the president. I worked for the US government. When I came here I showed my documents. They told me to to go to a room. They kept me there until these people came to help.”

Lawyer Mark Doss, who works for the International Refugee Assistance Project, had been at the airport most of the night and said they were still trying to free the other people who were being detained.

“There is no clear guidance to Customs and Border Control (CBC). It’s the weekend. Things are slow right now,” he said.

The lawsuit said that when lawyers for the detained men asked the CBC officers who they could speak to about meeting with Mr Darweesh, they were told: “Mr President. Call Mr Trump.”