On 27 January, Donald Trump banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries to the US for 90 days. He also suspended refugee admissions for 120 days.

After the first travel ban was blocked by the courts, Trump unveiled a new ban on 6 March. This ban, too, was blocked by the courts.

Amnesty International interviewed 38 people impacted by the first travel ban for a report released this month. Some of their stories are reproduced, below. Their testimonies reflect what is at stake if the executive order ends up being upheld in the courts – and also underscores the impact the order had on people during the brief time it was in place.



Robert (pseudonym): ‘My marriage is in limbo’

When I married my wife Raha, an Iranian citizen, I never expected that we would soon be separated indefinitely by a travel ban. I applied for an immigrant visa for her to join me in the United States. Everything was on track for us to be reunited. But then President Trump signed an executive order banning people from a number of Muslim-majority countries from entering the country.

Obviously, this is very difficult for both of us. We came into this whole process knowing that we would be separated for a time, and that was difficult. When I asked her to marry me, that was something that was on my mind. It was on both of our minds at the time. And we knew that we would be separated, that we would have to wait before we could be together for real.

The thing about it is that we knew it could be eight months – six months maybe if we were super lucky – maybe 10 months if we were unlucky, but this situation has thrown us into limbo. We don’t know.

We don’t exactly know our future now. We talked about having children, but I don’t want to have children when we can’t live together.

I have spent hours and hours researching what our options might be. I have written more letters than I can count and made more phone calls than I can count trying to get various people to go to bat, so to speak, on our behalf. It’s because this is the most important thing to me in the entire world.

Baraa (pseudonym): ‘I was forced to leave my baby with a friend’

I would have never left my daughter behind in Malaysia and flown back to the United States if it weren’t for the decision by the president. Nothing would have made me leave my daughter behind. But Trump’s executive order really compelled us to do what we did.

Because of the conditions in Yemen, I wanted to bring my wife and daughter here because they were living in a city that was one of the most affected areas during the war. I wanted them to be with me, but my primary concern was the war.

I had no choice but to leave my baby with a friend and his wife and go back to the US to bring in my wife and elder daughter, who had been approved. It was a very cruel choice, but what could I have done? I had no other choice. I couldn’t risk all of them losing their chance of getting in.

The baby was breastfeeding when she was separated from her mother. Her mother blamed me: she said this was my fault. You can imagine how she missed her child. Even I was truly suffering: I felt torn inside that I left my baby.

I was finally able to bring our baby home after her case was expedited. When I was told to make an appointment, I booked the first available one and got on a flight to Malaysia right away. It was such a relief to bring her home to her mother; she’s finally relieved.

Amina (pseudonym): ‘I’m too scared to leave the country again’

I was conducting research in Sudan for my doctorate when I heard about the executive order. I didn’t want to risk being stuck outside the country, and then potentially losing my opportunity to get citizenship. So I got on the next plane back and landed in New York City about 20 minutes after the order was signed. I was one of the first people to enter JFK under this order.

I was held for five hours and questioned about my work, family, education, and politics in Sudan. They also searched me, and at one point, handcuffed me. When I was handcuffed, I started crying, not because of the handcuffs, but because I thought that I probably was going to get deported. There was a document that they wanted me to sign at some point, but I didn’t sign it because I was scared to sign away my green card or something.

Finally, I was allowed to leave. I bolted out of there because I was scared that the immigration officials would change their minds.

Before I left, I asked the immigration official if I could travel again, and he said unless I was willing to be subjected to this whole ordeal again, that he wouldn’t travel if he were me. I have not left the country since.

I hoped to sponsor my elderly parents for a US visa this year, but I don’t know any more if that’s possible. My father is 80, so waiting four years is not really an option for him.

Rabyaah Althaibaini: ‘It’s a rollercoaster ride’

My husband is a prominent journalist in Yemen. We met while collaborating on setting up a network of writers and activists during the 2011 uprising against Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. I was going to go to Yemen in September 2015 to marry him, but the situation was becoming really dangerous for him. There were a lot of other journalists who were either missing or put in jail. So we got married in India instead.

Since then, he’s fled the country and now we’re trying to get him to the United States. But with the travel ban, we don’t know if that’s possible.

It’s been so difficult being separated. When I spoke to him recently, I was so very sad. He was also sad. It’s a rollercoaster ride, very much a rollercoaster ride. As much as he loves me and I love him, there is a lot of uncertainty. It is really very hard and very painful.

The accounts were gathered by Amnesty International. Some names were changed to protect their privacy. To read more about how the Muslim ban affected ordinary people, read their new report entitled ‘My Family Was in Shock: The negative impact of President Trump’s executive orders on travel to the US.’