This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Hundreds of Utahns protested President Donald Trump's executive order at Salt Lake City International Airport.

There were similar protests at other airports across the country in response to how some immigrants entering the country were detained at airports hours after Trump signed the order.

While there were no reports of detentions in Salt Lake City before the order was temporarily halted, several in the crowd said they came to show their opposition to the executive order.

"We go to war to defend the freedom of all people," said Bart Tippetts, 71, who fought in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967.

Ella Mendoza, an undocumented immigrant from Peru, said she walked through the same airport halls when she came to Utah 14 years ago.

"My message is here," Mendoza said. "No wall. No ban."

The youngest in a stream of people to tell stories through a megaphone at the center of a circle of supporters was Millie Kraatz, 8, of Salt Lake City, who told the crowd she was scared.

"I don't think it's fair to not let them in just because they're different," Kraatz said while standing next to her 10-year-old sister.

Not all who entered Terminal 2 did so to protest Trump's action. As protesters were chanting "Let them in," Jeff Brady, 50, offered his own response.

"To blow s—- up," Brady chanted as he descended on an escalator toward baggage claim.

"If you had a bag of Skittles and three were poison, would you give them to your kids?" said Brady, who has served in the Air Force since 1986. "What Trump is doing right now is needed."

tanderson@sltrib.com