Federal judges in three states have followed one in New York in barring authorities from deporting travellers affected by US President Donald Trump's executive order imposing restrictions on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.
The judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington state issued their rulings late on Saturday or early on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, US District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York City's Brooklyn borough ordered authorities to refrain from deporting previously approved refugees from those countries. She ruled on a lawsuit by two men from Iraq being held at Kennedy Airport.
The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Sunday that it would comply with court rulings while at the same time implementing Trump's order "to ensure that those entering the United States do not pose a threat to our country or the American people".
Across the United States, lawyers worked overnight to help travellers caught up in confusion at airports after the new Republican president on Friday halted immigration from the seven countries and temporarily stopped the entry of refugees.
Attorneys and advocates said they have filed more than 100 cases for individual travellers around the country.
In Boston, US District Judge Allison Burroughs on Sunday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the removal of two Iranians who taught at the University of Massachusetts who had been detained at Logan International Airport.
The order, set to last seven days, appeared to go further than Donnelly's by barring officials from detaining, in addition to removing, approved refugees, visa holders and permanent US residents from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Donnelly's order only forbade removing those affected by Trump's order.
The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Matthew Segal, in a statement called Burroughs' order "a huge victory for justice".
In Alexandria, Virginia, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Saturday night barred the Department of Homeland Security from removing 50 to 60 people detained at Dulles International Airport who are legal permanent residents. Dulles is one of the main airports serving Washington, DC.
On the West Coast, US District Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle on Saturday barred the federal government from removing two unnamed individuals.
