When protesters descended on America's major airports to vent their outrage over Donald Trump's refugee ban, they weren't alone.
Sitting on airport floors, holding signs and taking notes were lawyers who had decided to make themselves available to people who found themselves trapped following the signing of the executive order.
The first clients were the families of people from seven countries the US president's order placed on an immigration ban list - Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Syria - and had been detained in airports despite having valid visas or green cards.
Camille Mackler, the legal initiatives director at the New York Immigration Coalition, is among the lawyers who have spent much of the past few days working out of John F Kennedy Airport in New York.
She told SBS News when she first arrived at the airport it was in chaos with much confusion.
"When I showed up there were maybe 100 lawyers sitting on the floor trying to create spreadsheets," Ms Mackler said.
"They said 'just keep things moving until someone else is there to relieve you' and I just kept going."
She said the focus was now shifting away from the airports to the people stranded overseas, unable to enter the US despite being having the correct paperwork.
"We're trying to use our systems to create rapid response protocols."
"We've helped 131 families on the ground and we've also started collecting information for people abroad, because that's the biggest problem," she said.
Ms Mackler said while people in the industry knew the order was coming, they had expected it to take weeks or months to implement.
"This is just beyond anything I've every seen," she said.
"The [people] I'm talking to are distressed, they're confused. For some there's anger, for some there's depression, for some they feel they're under attack.
"I think they feel a bit better to see the protests and seeing the lawyers on the ground and helping them.
"Lawyers have become our first responders."
In the wake of the signing of the immigration order, multiple lawsuits have been filed challenging its legality and its constitutionality.
Ms Mackler said executive orders handed down by former President Barack Obama had been defeated in the courts and she had to trust in the judicial system.
"These people have committed no crime and I refuse to believe these orders are within the authority of the president," she said.
And this might not be the last time lawyers are called to act with short notice, Ms Mackler said.
She said her organisation would be working to implement emergency systems that can be triggered under similar situations in the future.
"We're trying to use our systems to create rapid response protocols," she said.
"This is going to be a long, long fight."
