Judge orders that stranded Yemenis be allowed to enter US

In yet another challenge to President Donald Trump's travel ban, a California federal judge has issued a court order barring the US government from preventing more than two dozen Yemenis with valid visas from flying to Los Angeles.

US District Judge Andre Birotte handed down his temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on Tuesday following an emergency motion filed the same day.

The motion was submitted by immigration attorney Julie Goldberg and her associate Daniel Covarrubias-Klein on behalf of 28 plaintiffs who are either Yemenis stranded in the tiny African nation of Djibouti - where they were transiting on their way to the United States - or Yemeni-American US citizens and permanent residents affected by the ban.

Birotte's ruling comes on the heels of similar orders issued by judges in several other US states, including New York, Virginia and Washington.

Among those left in limbo in Djibouti because of Trump's executive order temporarily restricting entry to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries is a Yemeni man whose wife and daughter are US citizens, but whose three-year-old son is an immigrant visa applicant with a passport stuck at the US embassy in Djibouti.

Another is an elderly woman who planned to join her son and his family and a three-year-old whose parents are lawful permanent residents in California.

'People escaping war'

Goldberg, who has law offices in New York and Los Angeles, said she has some 214 Yemeni clients who have been affected by the travel ban and who are now stranded in Djibouti, unable to return to their war-ravaged country.

She said another 1,000 people, most of them from Yemen and Somalia, had their visa appointments at the US embassy in Djibouti cancelled and were also stranded.

"These are people escaping war, I have people who are injured, people who aren't getting proper medical care, children that have died," the attorney, who is currently in Djibouti, said by telephone.

"These are the women and children of US citizens and I need to get that message across," she added.

'These are people escaping war, I have people who are injured, people who aren't getting proper medical care, children that have died'

"How is banning a three-year-old child preventing terrorism from happening in the US? I just need to know."

Goldberg said that despite the court rulings issued by several federal judges instructing the US government not to implement Trump's executive order, and despite the White House clarifying that holders of green cards would not be affected by the ban, people were still being turned away by airlines.

"Green card holders can come in but the airlines won't take them because Customs and Border Patrol is telling them that if these people are not admitted you are responsible for the carrier fees which are $10,000 a shot," Goldberg said.

"We are trying to track down an airline that is willing to respect the system of government we have in the United States and honour the court order."

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, granted a temporary reprieve late on Saturday evening. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing two Iraqis caught by the order as they flew into the country, successfully argued for a temporary stay that prevented travellers denied entry to the United States from being deported.

Federal judges in three states followed that in orders issued late Saturday or early Sunday, barring authorities from deporting affected travellers. Separately, Democratic attorneys general from California and New York were among states discussing whether to legally challenge the order, according to officials.

Immigration and civil rights attorneys and advocates said officials at several airports were not complying with federal court orders, including the judge's stay.