Legal residents and green card holders worry that family members left behind – some prevented from boarding flights – have been put in grave danger

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

On Saturday, Mohamed Muezeb, a 47-year-old convenience store owner from Ridgewood, Queens, woke up to a voicemail from his 17-year-old daughter, Sawsan. She was stranded at Hamad International airport in Qatar, and she was sobbing.



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A day after Donald Trump signed an executive order implementing “extreme vetting” for people coming to the US from seven predominantly Muslim nations, including Yemen, confusion reigned at airports in the US and abroad.

Muezeb, a Yemeni green card holder who has lived in the US for 27 years, told the Guardian that his wife Arwa, daughter and 15-year-old son Mohamed Yousef had been prevented from boarding a flight to John F Kennedy international airport.

They had planned to reunite with their family after waiting four years for a permanent residency application that was approved just three weeks ago, Muezeb said.

Muezeb said his family members fled more than a year ago from the south-western Yemeni province of Ibb, an area heavily effected by the country’s bitter civil war. They waited in Djibouti while their application was completed.

Muezeb said he had spent all his savings to purchase tickets costing more than $2,000. One of his sons made it to the US a week ago, just before Trump’s executive order came into effect.

“I feel like somebody has killed me,” Muezeb said, adding he had not been able to contact his family since receiving the voicemail. “I’ve been here for 27 years and this is how I am treated?

“I think what he [Trump] is doing is wrong to people like me who are American. These are innocent people. It’s not good for the country. All I wanted was to see my kids and this is what happened.”

Muezeb said his wife, two sons and daughter had been interviewed by US consular officials in Djibouti and were handed their permanent residency on 22 December 2016. The Guardian has not been able to verify his family’s immigration status, but has seen copies of their plane tickets.

The three remaining members of Muezeb’s family were due to take off from Hamad international airport on Qatar Airways flight QR 0701, arriving at JFK at 2.15pm on Saturday. But as of Saturday evening, Muezeb had not heard from any of his family since the voicemail was left.

“I don’t know what happened to my kids. I can’t talk to them,” Muezeb said, adding his family had only $200 in cash available to them. “All my life I’ve been working for my kids. What happened today has killed me.”

Qatar Airways was not available for comment, but published a statement earlier on Saturday warning passengers from the seven predominantly Muslim countries affected by Trump’s executive order to amend their travel arrangements.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Reuters that the ban applies to green card holders.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Suliman Arobye, a 21- year-old US citizen who came from Yemen six years ago, said that he had left behind two sisters, his wife and his father, all of whom were also applying for permanent residency in the US. Photograph: Oliver Laughland/The Guardian

At the Bay Ridge Islamic Society in Brooklyn, news of the travel ban had begun to filter in to those who had come for midday prayers. Suliman Arobye, a 21-year-old US citizen who came from Yemen six years ago, said he had left behind two sisters, his wife and his father, all of whom were also applying for permanent residency in the US.

They were currently in the southern city of Taiz, on the frontlines of the war.

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“Me and my two brothers are citizens here but we can’t bring our family here now. It makes me furious. What kind of respect is that for human rights?” Arobye said. “He [Trump] is a racist.”

Gamal Salah, a 57-year-old citizen who has lived in the US since 1979, said he feared for the life of his 25-year-old daughter and five grandchildren who are currently stranded in Ibb.

Salah said his remaining family members had applied for asylum more than two years ago and had little hope their application would be processed after the order.

“I’m already exhausted by it,” he said. “But now he [Trump] has put the lives of people – including my daughter and grandchildren – in danger.

“I worry they will die today or tomorrow because of this war,” he said.