No Sri Lankans stranded at US airports – Govt.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today said that there have been no reports of Sri Lankan nationals being stranded at any airports in the United States, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration ban.

“Sri Lanka Missions in the US have informed us that there are no confirmed cases of Sri Lankans stranded at US airports,” the ministry’s spokesman Maheshini Colonne said.

She stated that all Sri Lankan Missions in the US are on alert and in touch with relevant US authorities on this matter.

Any Sri Lankans stranded at a US airport and requiring assistance are requested to contact Sri Lanka’s Mission in New York via the telephone number 001 917 597 7009. 

“Kindly note in this connection that Sri Lanka is not on the list of countries in the recent US Executive Order,” the spokesman Tweeted.

Foreign media had reported yesterday that 71 individuals from 20 countries including Sri were detained Tuesday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Those detained, according to No Ban JFK, a coalition of volunteer attorneys camped out at JFK, include a Malaysian and a Chinese national, as well as travelers from Turkey, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, France, Algeria, Jordan, Qatar, Senegal, Switzerland, Algeria, Egypt and Guinea. 

Others in the lawyers’ list released on social media include travelers from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Libya, five of the seven countries named in Trump’s ban. The remaining two are Yemen and Somalia. 

Trump made good on one of his campaign promises last Friday when he, in one seismic move, signed an executive order that banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days. The order also suspended admission of all refugees for 120 days. 

Chaos and confusion immediately gripped U.S. airports as protesters gathered to rail against the policy and travelers found themselves caught up in the immigration nightmare that many are calling a blanket ban on all Muslims.