A boisterous crowd of about 100 greeted a stunned young Iraqi couple and their three wide-eyed daughters Sunday night at Portland International Airport, the first refugees to land here since the controversial travel ban was rescinded by a federal judge last week.

Mustapha Mohamed, a former interpreter for U.S. military in Iraq and member of Iraqi security forces, had worked and waited for four years to get a visa that would allow him and his family to relocate. Just when they thought they'd gotten approval, President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning visitors from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries.

"They were originally scheduled to arrive on Friday," said Matt dos Santos, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. "But they got caught up in the shameful executive order, which we contend is illegal and unconstitutional."

Catholic Charities of Portland played an instrumental role in getting the family here. The organization feared its work was in vain after Trump signed the executive order on Jan. 27. "It took a very bold judge in Seattle to make this happen," said Richard Birkel, Catholic Charities' executive director in Portland.

Fadha, Mohamed's cousin who lives in Beaverton, was among the welcoming crowd. She paid $5,000 for the family's flights, she said. Fadha, who didn't want to give her last name, immigrated herself to the U.S. in 1993 after the first Persian Gulf War. She was 13.

Fadha was frantic when her cousin got held up by the travel ban. His service to the U.S. military and the three years of vetting by U.S. immigration authorities seemed to count for little, she said, after the new president signed the travel ban order.

"I talked to every government official I could think of," she said.

It was a lawsuit brought by Bob Ferguson, attorney general for the state of Washington, that finally paved the way. U.S. District Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee in Seattle, issued a temporary order Friday banning enforcement nationwide of the travel ban. The U.S. Justice Department's subsequent appeal was denied early Sunday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

At PDX, members of the crowd shouted "Welcome," and "We love you," as the family reached the ticket lobby. Several stuffed cash into the hands of the local sponsors of the Iraqi family.

Portland Police Chief Mike Marshman was among the greeting party. He said the Police Bureau makes it a practice to reach out to new immigrants, who know little about how the local system works and can be easy prey for con artists. Marshman said he also wanted to reach out "cop to cop" to Mohamed given his background working security for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Mohamed said only "thank you," repeatedly. Fadha, his cousin, said the family was too exhausted to talk much. "They've been traveling for days, from Baghdad to Qatar to New York and to Phoenix and now Portland, and always the 3-year-old cries," she said.

The 3-year-old was all smiles Sunday night. Someone had given her a handful of helium balloons, which she gazed up at adoringly as they walked toward the airport exit.

-- Jeff Manning

jmanning@oregonian.com, 503-294-7606