'Right thing to do': Canadian lawyers volunteer at airports to help during Trump travel ban

Canadian lawyers are mobilizing at airports across the country to assist people affected by U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on all entries from seven Muslim-majority nations.

They are volunteering their time to help anyone who gets turned away at American security checkpoints.

"I've never been more proud to be a lawyer," said Janet Thompson-Price, an immigration lawyer in Saint John who is helping to co-ordinate the effort in response to a request from her U.S. counterparts.

Everybody's shocked how this played out. I mean, you can't ban a group based on a religious denomination or from a particular country. It's not right.- Janet Thompson-Price, immigration lawyer

She said she has watched media reports of American lawyers "literally camping out at airports, donating their time."

She has also heard that most of them have had to buy airline tickets at their own expense so they can get through security to try to meet with clients.

"So obviously they're doing everything they can because they feel it's the right thing to do," said Thompson-Price.

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"Everybody's shocked how this played out," she said. "I mean, you can't ban a group based on a religious denomination or from a particular country. It's not right."

Trump's executive order last Friday immediately put a 120-day halt on all refugee resettlement to the U.S. (indefinitely for Syrian refugees), and a 90-day ban on anyone trying to enter the country from one of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The number of detainees and emergency situations has decreased since the White House offered clarification Wednesday about how the ban should be applied.

But Canadian lawyers are still doing rotations at international airports in the larger centres, such as Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver, to help those in need, said Thompson-Price.

They can't practise U.S. immigration law, she stressed, but they can reassure clients on what their rights are and put them in contact with immigration lawyers in the U.S.

If the people who are turned away have valid U.S. visas and are not otherwise inadmissible to Canada for any security reasons, they can also be issued special permits to remain in Canada for up to 180 days, said Thompson-Price.

Still some uncertainty, risk

She anticipates seeing an increase in the number of people choosing to come to Canada.

"We're obviously a little more welcoming right now," she said, adding Trump's pause is set for 90 days but could end up being extended.

For Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are also citizens of the seven affected Muslim-majority countries, Thompson-Price recommends avoiding travel to the United States — "until more clarity becomes available."

"We've had high-level assurances [they] will be allowed in, but they're not expressly excluded in the executive order and so it's still somewhat risky to try to go the States, I think," she said.

If they have to go to the United States, Thompson-Price suggested "the safest thing" could be to fly out of an airport that has U.S. pre-screening in Canada.

"That way, if you're going to be turned away, you're still on Canadian soil, as opposed to the States and then hitting U.S. security and then running into issues," she said.