When the Asali family invited Sky News into their home in Allentown, Pennsylvania, they were all clearly exhausted.

Just 24 hours earlier none of them were certain they would ever be reunited, but there they all were, enjoying breakfast together, feeling very lucky indeed.

Nine days ago, six of them were flying from Syria to start a new life with relatives in America when Donald Trump signed his travel ban.

Sarmad Assali, (there are two versions of the family name because, for reasons unclear, some family members changed the spelling during the immigration process), has been living in America since 1978.

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She was waiting at the airport but her relatives - two brothers, their wives, and two teenage children - never came.


They had been turned away by border officials and put back on a plane to the country they had just fled.

"I was absolutely devastated," said Sarmad.

"Angry, heartbroken."

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The six family members had been waiting for 13 years to get visas to immigrate to America.

They described endless interviews and checks, and their determination to do everything exactly by the book.

Basam Abou Asali and his wife Gozfia wiped away tears as they spoke about not being allowed in to the country.

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Basam, speaking in Arabic but translated by Sarmad, said it felt like someone close to him had died.

Hassan Abou Asali was so distressed he had a panic attack on the plane back to Syria.

He said he felt like a criminal.

When a federal judge suspended Trump's travel ban, the Asali family rushed to the airport, booking the first flight they could, finally arriving at JFK airport to a joyous welcome on Monday morning.

Now they are allowing themselves to grieve for the country they left behind, while also looking forward to building a new life in America.

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Sarmad said she intends to enrol the teenage children in school and college right away, and get the adults started with English lessons.

They will never forget, she said, the Americans who turned out to airports to protest the ban, and the local politicians and lawyers who sprang into action on their behalf.

Despite the trauma of the last week, none of the family were willing to speak ill of Donald Trump.

Sarmad said: "We all want America to be safe, and people coming in should be checked properly.

"But this is a nation of immigrants.

"Don't shut the door.

"It's what this country was built on."