Up to 13 people have been detained at Sea-Tac International Airport on Saturday.
These individuals were detained in connection with President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants and refugees from Muslim countries, according to pro-bono attorneys contacted by families of those detained.
Lawyers from the ACLU and Northwest Immigrants Rights Project bee-lined for the airport on Saturday afternoon.
At least two people detained were scheduled for 5 p.m. flights back out of the country to be deported. Attorneys scrambled to file habeas briefs to stop the deportation.
Among those detained was the family of someone who works at the airport. Port of Seattle authorities got word that U.S. Customs and Border Protection would stop people before midnight on Friday. At that point, people were already on planes and in the air.
They flying with Delta, British Airways and Eva Airlines, a Taiwanese airliner.
Gov. Jay Inslee was visibly furious on Saturday afternoon when he spoke at a press conference. He was incensed that the Port of Seattle was given no notice and that people were allowed to board planes headed for the states, only to be detained upon arrival.
"We have a family here Donald Trump allowed her husband to get on a plane in Vienna but wouldn't let him walk the six feet to embrace his wife," Inslee said.
Inslee called it "a grossly unconstitutional and highly illegal act."
Dow Constantine, the King County executive, said Trump's first week "has done more damage to the prospects of Americans than any terrorist could do."
Despite their frustration, they do not have the authority to stop the detainment. Port officials said they were doing their best to keep families comfortable in a conference room at the airport.
Trumps executive order includes a 90-day travel ban for people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The order also suspends the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.
At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, 12 people were detained, Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York said on Twitter. He and Rep. Nydia Velazquez, also of New York, went to JFK on Saturday, hoping to help release those detained.
An Iraqi man, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, was released. Darweesh was an interpreter for the U.S. military during the Iraq War, according to news reports.
