Somali refugee relieved to get to U.S. before travel ban rules

says the travel ban is necessary to keep Americans safe and to allow the federal government to review the vetting process for refugees and others.

Advocates say the ban will close the doors on many of the most vulnerable.

A record 65 million people are displaced by war and persecution worldwide, according to the U.N. refugee agency. It selects the most at-risk refugees to be recommended to governments for resettlement, typically including victims of genderbased violence, LGBT refugees, members of political opposition groups and people with medical issues.

But the new requirements could mean many of those refugees could be passed over for those who have an immediate family member already in the United States.

“This is part of the disconnect now,” said David Murphy, executive director of the International Rescue Committee’s San Diego office. “We identify families based upon need and now they have to have a U.S. tie.”

Said, who spent eight years being vetted for refugee resettlement, had feared he would never leave Kakuma, a 25-year-old camp that is home to about 172,000 refugees.

About a year ago, robbers broke into his home at the camp and tried to rape his wife, he said.

Said, who was on crutches after losing his right leg to a grenade explosion in 1993, was shot in his good leg while fighting off the men.

A neighbor who came to their aid shot one of the robbers to death. Said’s children were home at the time.

The shooting left him with a fractured hip, and it still has not healed. He plans to get medical help now that he is in the United States.

They will spend the next three months with the refugee group, taking English classes, finding an apartment and getting adjusted culturally.

On his first night in his new country, Said and his family said they slept peacefully in a San Diego motel. But the feelings of happiness and relief are tinged with sadness, too.

“I don’t like it that others like me won’t be able to make it here,” he said. “The life there is so hard. No matter how hard you work, you don’t have enough to meet your basic needs.”

Associated Press Ali Said, of Somalia, center, is pushed by refugee caseworker Mohamed Yassin, behind, as he makes his way into an elevator with his two sons Thursday in San Diego. Said, whose leg was blown off by a grenade, says he feels unbelievably lucky to be among...