Refugee ban leaves Iraqi allies in limbo,
Many left in limbo after executive order
Omar al Assad, a Syrian refCAIRO ugee in Jordan, had been preparing for a trip to the United States with his family to start a new life. They were to depart Feb. 6.
He received a call that ended those plans over the weekend from a resettlement officer with the International Organization for Migration. The agency in Amman, Jordan, had resettled 18,300 Syrians, Iraqis, Somalis, Sudanese and others last year.
“All she told us is that all flights were postponed, and they would contact me when they have new information,” al Assad, 32, a father of two from Daraa, in southern Syria, said by telephone. “We had tickets for Chicago, where I already have a friend who moved to America last year. The situation is distressing.”
Across the globe, refugees, academics, workers and others with close ties to the United States — including those holding green cards — saw their plans suddenly disintegrate after President Trump signed an executive order Friday banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Iran.
Those targeted say they are now in limbo, sometimes with nothing.
Al Assad, a former schoolteacher, had been working as a salesman in a downtown Amman clothing store, saving money to take his family to a safe country where they could put down roots and rebuild their lives.
Instead, the provisions he put aside for the move and for his family, including his children Lana, 8 and Ahmed, 10, are gone. And so is their life in Jordan.
“I sold all our furniture and gave the landlord notice that we were leaving on Feb. 6,” he said. “We pulled Lana and Ahmed out of school last week, and I resigned from my position at the shop. I spent the Jordanian money we had saved on new clothes for Lana and Ahmed. I don’t know how we will now handle household expenses with no job.”
For some Syrians, the situation would be comical if it didn’t seem so ludicrous.
Rim Sami, a Syrian woman living in Tripoli, Lebanon, and a mother of two daughters born nearly five years ago in the United States, and therefore U.S. citizens, has a two-year visitors’ visa. She wonders how her children will be able to visit the land of their birth.
“According to Mr. Trump’s ban, I cannot visit the U.S., which I visited several times before and where I gave birth to my two daughters,” she said. “Did Mr. Trump know that his decision has prevented two American kids from visiting their country at least until they reach 18?”
Ammar Shaker, an Iraqi student studying engineering in the U.S. for the past two years, wonders how he is going to visit his family in Jordan now.
“I came and pay a lot of money because I want to be a well-educated person,” he said. “But now I am stuck here and could be kicked out any time. This really hurts.”