Lawyers struggled to determine how many people were affected by the rules, which Trump said on Saturday were “working out very nicely.”

But critics described widespread confusion, with travellers being held in legal limbo because of ill-defined procedures.

“We just simply don’t know how many people there are and where they are,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Protests were planned or underway Sunday, including one in suburban Chicago organised by Jewish groups to show support for Muslims, as well as at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, and Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

A federal judge in New York issued an order on Saturday temporarily blocking the government from deporting people with valid visas who arrived after Trump’s travel ban took effect.

But confusion remained about who could stay and who will be kept out of the country in the coming weeks. Federal courts in Virginia, Massachusetts and Washington state took similar action.

Attorney generals from 16 US states, including California, New York and Pennsylvania, also issued a joint statement condemning the executive order.

“We are committed to working to ensure that as few people as possible suffer from the chaotic situation that it has created,” the statement said on Sunday.

Criticism also continued abroad.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, lashed out at Trump on Sunday, insisting that instead of building walls, the continent will “celebrate” every wall which is torn down and “every new bridge that is built up.”

Among those caught in limbo: Iraqis who had been promised a life in America because of their service to the US military, frail and elderly travellers from Iran and Yemen, and longtime US residents travelling abroad who don’t know if they will be allowed to return home.

“What’s next? What’s going to happen next?” asked Mohammed al Rawi, an Iraqi-born American citizen in the Los Angeles area, after his 69-year-old father, coming to visit his grandchildren in California, was abruptly detained and sent back to Iraq after 12 hours in custody.

“Are they going to create camps for Muslims and put us in it?”

On Saturday, large protests erupted at airports throughout the country where travellers were being held, a day after Trump signed the order banning travel to the US by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen. Trump also suspended the US refugee program for four months.

Hameed Khalid Darweesh, a translator and assistant for the US military in Iraq for 10 years now fleeing death threats, was among at least a dozen people detained at Kennedy Airport.

He walked free after his lawyers, two members of Congress and as many as 2,000 demonstrators went to the airport to seek his release.

“This is the soul of America,” Darweesh told reporters after gaining his freedom, adding that the US was home to “the greatest people in the world.”

Trump this morning attempted to quell the backlash, emphasising that the US will resume issuing visas to all countries once secure policies are put in place over the next 90 days.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Trump said. “This is not about religion – this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.

“We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days,” he said.

US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, prominent Republican foreign policy voices, said in a joint statement that Trump’s order may do more to help recruit terrorists than improve US security.

“Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism,” they said, adding the United States should not stop green card holders “from returning to the country they call home.”

“This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” they added.

Trump blasted the two senators in a Twitter statement, calling them “sadly weak on immigration” and accusing them of “looking to start World War III”.

In a another Twitter message earlier on Sunday, Trump said the United States needed “strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW.”

– AP/Reuters