Demonstrators held a massive protest at New York City's JFK airport throughout Saturday after 12 refugees were detained following Donald Trump's immigration ban.

The group was held after flying to the United States following the president's executive order, banning all refugees and citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

One of the Iraqi refugees who was detained for 14 hours, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, had worked for the U.S. government in Iraq for 10 years as a translator, engineer and contractor and had a valid special immigration visa to relocate to America.

The 53-year-old walked free from detention on Saturday afternoon after arriving in America on a flight from Istanbul the night before. The second detainee, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was released around 7 pm Saturday after 24 hours.

A federal court has granted an emergency stay blocking the deportation of migrants detained at airports. The stay came from a petition signed on Darweesh and Alshawi's behalf.

Scroll down for video

The massive demonstration carried on through Saturday evening as 11 out of 12 refugees remained held at New York City's JFK airport

The protest followed Donald Trump's executive order barring refugees and citizens from seven countries from entering the United States

Port Authority Police Department blocked an entrance as protesters gathered outside Terminal 4 at JFK airport

A sea of protesters gathered outside of Terminal 4 of JFK after people from muslim countries were detained at border control

Protesters held a massive rally at New York City's JFK airport Saturday after 12 refugees were detained due to the ban

The protest at John F Kennedy International Airport carried on through Saturday as 11 out of 12 people remained detained

'This is illegal': Demonstrators gathered outside JFK Saturday for a long protest after 12 refugees were detained inside

J'accuse: One protester held a sign reading: 'Trump is the terrorist' while another proclaimed: 'This is not how to defeat ISIS!'

One of the JFK protesters demanded more protection for immigrant families, as some were detained around the US

Travelers reported that police stopped allowing people without plane tickets onto the Air Train, which goes to the airport terminals, in the evening (the boarding area is pictured)

Police at one point blocked protesters from accessing the Air Train at JFK but Governor Andrew Cuomo later ordered authorities to let them through

Cuomo said that 'one of the fundamental rights that is granted to the people of this country is the right to peacefully protest' as he ordered police to let demonstrators access the Air Train again

Cab drivers at New York City's JFK airport went on strike for an hour from 6 pm to 7 pm Saturday to protest against the ban

The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued the stay Saturday evening after the two men were released, after 14 and 24 hours respectively. The ACLU had filed the petition on their behalf, but the stay is effective nationwide.

Under the stay, none of the travelers held at airports across the nation can be sent back. However, the measure doesn't mean they have to be allowed into the country - leaving them in a grey area.

Ten people are still being detained. Alshawi - who was approved for a visa on January 11 - was flying to America to join his wife and son in Texas.

'I'm sleepy and tired and exhausted,' he told the New York Post after being released.

Cabs at the airport went on strike for an hour from 6 pm to 7 pm to protest against the ban.

Travelers reported that police stopped allowing people without plane tickets onto the Air Train, which goes to the airport terminals, during the evening.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, however, ordered authorities to let protesters onto the Air Train, saying in a statement relayed by ABC that 'one of the fundamental rights that is granted to the people of this country is the right to peacefully protest'.

A sea of protesters gathered outside JFK's Terminal 4 as hundreds of demonstrators remained at the airport Saturday night.

Iraqi refugee Hameed Khalid Darweesh (center) walked free from detention at New York's JFK airport on Saturday after being held for 14 hours when he tried to enter the U.S.

President Donald Trump (pictured Saturday) signed an executive order on Friday afternoon providing for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants and visa holders

Protesters gathered outside New York JFK's airport on Saturday after 12 refugees were detained trying to enter the United States under Trump's immigration ban

Earlier on Saturday, Darweesh pumped his fist in the air outside the airport following his release, as a crowd of supporters cheered him on.

'First of all I want to thank the people that take care of me and support me. This is the humility, this is the soul of America,' he told a crowd gathered outside the airport.

'This is what pushed me to move - leave my country and come here. America is the land of freedom… America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world.'

Asked what he thought of Trump he said: 'I don't know. He's a president, I'm a normal person.'

He was travelling with his wife and three children at the time but they were not detained. They were heading to Charlotte, North Carolina to start their new life in America.

WHO EXACTLY IS BANNED FROM THE U.S? Any non-U.S. citizen from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen is now barred from entering the United States. That covers legal permanent residents - green card holders - and visa-holders from those seven countries who were out of the United States after Friday, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the temporary ban. They cannot return to the U.S. for 90 days. There's an exemption for immigrants and legal permanent residents whose entry is in the U.S. national interest, but it's unclear how that exemption will be applied. Visa and green card holders already in the U.S. will be allowed to stay. Customs and Border Protection is notifying airlines about passengers whose visas have been canceled or legal residents scheduled to fly back to the U.S. Airlines are being told to keep them off those flights. Source: Associated Press Advertisement

Lawyers for Darweesh and another Iraqi who is still detained at JFK filed a lawsuit on Saturday morning in a bid to have them released.

The two men were on separate flights when immigration officials stopped them on Friday night and took their passports when they landed in New York.

Meanwhile, Cairo airport officials said seven U.S.-bound migrants - six from Iraq and one from Yemen - were prevented from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New York's JFK airport.

The officials said the seven migrants, escorted by officials from the U.N. refugee agency, were stopped from boarding the plane on Saturday after authorities at Cairo airport contacted their counterparts in JFK airport.

The action at Cairo airport was the first there since Trump imposed the three-month ban on refugees.

Dutch airline KLM says it had to turn away seven would-be passengers because they would no longer have been accepted into the United States.

'We would love to bring them there. That's not the problem. It's just that this is what the U.S. sprang on the rest of the world - that these people are no longer welcome,' Manel Vrijenhoek, at KLM's press office, said.

She said the seven, who were from the seven blacklisted countries, were due to fly with KLM from different airports around the world.

It is not clear exactly how many refugees or visa holders are already being detained across the country.

Darweesh was met by crowds of supporters outside JFK airport following his release on Saturday

Protesters assemble at JFK airport on Saturday to protest Trump's arriving refugee ban

Trump, pictured with the executive order on Air Force One on Thursday, has put a 90-day pause on visas and immigration from seven countries including Iraq and Syria

The U.S. has resettled tens of thousands of refugees from warn-torn Syria, something the Trump administration will indefinitely pause out of fears that jihadis will lurk among them

Panic broke out after Department of Homeland Security issued a directive at 4:30 pm on Friday enforcing Trump's executive order to essentially close down the borders to refugees and visa holders from a list of banned Muslim-majority countries.

The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said there was chaos at airports and in the air following Trump's ban with the organization already receiving calls for help from green card and other visa holders after being refused admission.

'Visas being denied immediately. Chaos at airports and in the air. #MuslimBan will apply to green card holders attempting to return tonight,' the ADC's Abed Ayoub tweeted on Friday night.

WHAT WILL TRUMP'S ANTI-IMMIGRATION ORDER DO? Ban refugee entries from all countries for 120 days. Refugees can be accepted on case-by-case basis, including if they are a religious minority facing religious persecution Block refugee entries from Syria indefinitely. Cap refugee intake at 50,000 per year. Ban visa and immigration entries for 90 days from Muslim-majority countries on banned list, including Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. Suspend visa issuance to countries of particular concern. Advertisement

Trump's ban puts a 90-day pause on visas and immigration from seven countries including Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Yemen and Somalia.

The order also puts a 120-day ban on all refugee entries into the country and declares that refugees from Syria are not welcome until further notice.

After that period of time, refugees will be accepted only from countries that the State and Homeland Security Departments decide are safe to work with.

It comes as Iran's foreign ministry suggested the country would limit issuing visas to American tourists in retaliation for Trump's suspension of immigration and visas.

The official IRNA news agency carried a statement by the Iranian foreign ministry on Saturday that said Iran will resort to 'counteraction' to Trump's executive order.

'Iran, to defend the dignity of the great Iranian nation, will implement the principle of reciprocity until the removal of the insulting restriction against Iranian nationals,' the statement read.

'It will apply corresponding legal, consular and political actions.'

The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when militants stormed the U.S. embassy.

Trump's immigration ban has angered activists (pictured in New York on Friday) with the U.S. banning all refugee entries for 120 days

Google CEO Sundar Pichai urged its staff travelling overseas on Friday to immediately return to the U.S. if they would be affected by the order

Demonstrators took part in a rally in support of Muslims and immigrants in New York on Friday ahead of Trump's executive order

SYRIAN REFUGEE'S DREAM OF MOVING TO U.S. SHATTERED: Syrian refugee Ammar Sawan took his first step toward resettlement in the United States three months ago by submitting to an initial round of security screenings. But his dreams of a better life were crushed when President Donald Trump enforced an indefinite ban on Friday on displaced Syrians entering the United States. Sawan, who is a Syrian refugee living in Amman, Jordan with his family, revealed on Saturday that he learned of Trump's decision from TV news the night before. 'When we heard of the order, it was like a bolt of lightning, and all our hopes and dreams vanished,' the 40 year-old said. The upholsterer, who supports his family with odd jobs in Amman, said he was especially disappointed for his four children who he had hoped would get a good education in the U.S. He and other Syrian refugees in Amman bristled at the idea that they posed a potential security threat, saying they were both shocked and saddened by Trump's ban. 'We tell the American people that we hope he (Trump) retracts this decision,' said 37-year-old refugee Mayada Sheik. 'We are not going out to harm people of other countries.' Advertisement

Google urged its staff travelling overseas on Friday to immediately return to the U.S. if they would be affected by the order.

CEO Sundar Pichai issued a memo slamming Trump's order saying 100 employees were affected, Bloomberg reports.

The tech company feared its employees, even though they have valid visas, would be stopped from returning to the country.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg hit out at Trump condemning his anti-immigration bans.

'The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that,' Zuckerberg said.

It follows reports that Muslim-majority countries with ties to Trump's business empire have been excluded from the order, Bloomberg reports.

Statistics show Trump doesn't have any business relations with the seven black-listed countries, but does with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey.

Trump's order declares that U.S. policy is 'to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes.'

It also gives Homeland Security 60 days to begin providing the president with the names of other countries to add to the list.

The nation will limit the total refugee resettlement numbers to 50,000 per year, according to the order.

It follows reports that Muslim-majority countries with ties to Trump's business empire have been excluded from the order

Trump's executive order declares that the U.S. will 'prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution.' But that only applies when 'the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality.'

The International Rescue Committee called President Trump's suspension of the U.S. refugee resettlement program a 'harmful and hasty' decision.

In a statement issued late Friday night after the suspension was announced, IRC President David Miliband said: 'America must remain true to its core values. America must remain a beacon of hope.'

The IRC statement declared that the U.S. vetting process for prospective refugees is already robust - involving biometric screening and up to 36 months of vetting by '12 to 15 government agencies.'

Miliband praised U.S.'s record as a resettlement destination and said: 'This is no time for America to turn its back on people ready to become patriotic Americans.'