Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders stressed unity and pledged to stand up for any group that’s being discriminated against. That’s the good news for the LGBT community, which may be the target of an upcoming executive order that will allow any federal official discriminate against anyone they’re paid to serve, as long as it’s their sincerely held religious belief.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said the current ban will promote terrorism. He led a round of “Tell me what Dallas looks like,” to which the crowd answered, “This is what Dallas looks like.”
Dallas City Councilwoman Jennifer Gates said she was proud to represent immigrants and refugees.
Attorney Pete Schulte was among the crowd at Thanksgiving Square. Schulte spent the weekend at DFW Airport with a group of attorneys attempting to represent the refugees and others who were being held in immigration.
“We believe at least eight are being held in delayed processing now,” he said.
Those that arrived over the weekend were released, but the eight are new arrivals. He didn’t have an exact count, because federal officials are not speaking to the attorneys or allowing attorneys to speak to those arriving. The eight are people expected on flights by family. Others may be arriving on work visas.
Processing should take between 30 minutes and three hours. Schulte said he’s calling it illegal detention when processing is taking more than four hours.
So far, he said the group of attorneys has raised more than $15,000 to held defray costs including renting hotel and meeting rooms for them to work on the immigration cases at the airport.
At Thanksgiving Square, a press conference began at 5:30 p.m. followed by prayers and a rally that lasted until 8 p.m. Demonstrators carried signs including one that read, “Supporting immigrants now so I don’t have to e one later.”