By Naeisha Rose
The demonstrators who gathered outside Terminal 4 at Kennedy Airport this weekend to protest President Donald Trump’s ban on Muslims entering the United States were a strikingly diverse group made up of some home-grown New Yorkers and others from far-flung parts of the world.
That evening a Brooklyn federal judge issued a temporary stay of Trump’s order, which locked out Muslims from seven countries for 90 days and denied entry to the country for refugees from all nations for 120 days.
At least a dozen people had been detained at JFK Saturday, but it was not known how many had been released by Sunday evening or if anyone was still being held Monday.
On Sunday the Trump administration changed course on its blanket ban and said it would allow U.S. permanent residents holding green cards to enter the United States.
One shocked couple from South America was at Terminal 4 Saturday in support of those who were stopped at the airport and threatened with being sent back to their native lands.
“It’s absolutely nerve-wracking because we are working on staying here,” said Camila Quinteros-Stein, 26 from Peru. “We are married and we are working on our green card, so I was like wait, I just submitted some paperwork, what do I do now.”
Phoebe Quinteros-Stein, who is originally from New Jersey and married to Camilla, said: “As the American in the relationship, I am pretty ashamed.”
Camila Quinteros-Stein was not surprised by what has happened in America since coming back to the United States, particularly in light of the military coups and despots in Latin American history.
“I don’t think this is the end of democracy,” she said. “I think it is a wake-up call for a lot of Democrats and liberals to not accept that our conversation should be amongst ourselves…and to actually speak to people outside of our bubbles.”
The outpouring of love for the refugees overwhelmed one Muslim man.
“I’m from New York, born and raised in Queens, and I live in Westchester,” said Adil Iqbal, a 33-year-old doctor.
When he learned of the president’s order, he said he knew he had to stand in solidarity for all people.
“I’m grateful that I’m in New York City, the most tolerant place in the world. Islam is about peace and I think the media has created a huge misconception on who Muslims are across the world,” Iqbal said. “This is the fruit of that. For a decade and a half the media been injecting fear towards Islam and they have gotten this idiot Trump elected.”
A Columbia student was dismayed by impact the bank would have on academic communities..
“I think international students are a population that is very vulnerable,” said David Oliveras. “I am here to stand with my undocumented friends, my peers at Columbia University and all the people that suffer from this bigotry and this fascist state
Tara from India, who has been a citizen in the United States for 25 years, was proud to protest, but afraid to even give her last name.
“The country is being hijacked, this is not America anymore. He has taken us somewhere else on some kind of weird ride…this is not a decision for catching extremists, this is scapegoating and I hope something happens before a genocide occurs and then people wake up.”
Cynthia Betubiza found Trump’s order to be completely illegal.
“I’m here at this protest because banning Muslims is completely unconstitutional,” said Betubiza, 24. “I know that he is doing this for specific countries, but our country was founded by religious refugees. Our country has the Statue of Liberty because we were founded as a country that is meant to welcome people from all around the world. Give me your huddled masses that is what we say.”
Kui Tan, 24, a Chinese-American originally from Iowa and living from New York, shared Betubiza’s sentiments.
“This is totally immoral, unconstitutional and a lot of things have been happening with the executive orders, but this is the first time that but now people’s live are affected, international relations are shot, and this is like Japanese internment,” she said. “When it’s convenient to discriminate they are not going to care.”
Also from India but now living in South Ozone Park was Chtindarpal Singh.
“To be honest, I feel really loved,” said Singh who is often mistaken for Muslim. “I know it’s kind of crazy, but what you see [here] is love for Muslims. I’m Sikh, a different religion, but I feel like New York has got our back and I love it,” said Singh. “There is always a mixup between Sikh and Islam, but any hate is bad. I’m not going to say no I’m not Muslim. There shouldn’t be any hate at all.”
For a Rockaway woman this was a demonstration that needed to happen.
“We can’t let all these racist policies take over our country, we have to get active and we have to be out here, spending our Saturday nights doing things like this,” said Margaret Day, 32. “It’s really important that we not sit by and let hate take over our country.”
