Travel anxiety high after rapid ban changes
Immigrants aren’t sure if relatives will be allowed through customs
Hayder Al Baidhani began to worry when he hadn’t heard from his mother more than an hour after her flight from Dubai arrived Saturday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
An Iraqi citizen with a green card, she had flown from Baghdad to the United Arab Emirates before making her way to Houston a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. Green card holders had been exempted under the order, but Al Baidhani nonetheless approached a group of lawyers volunteering free legal advice before she finally called to announce she had made it through customs.
“She was horrified,” he said, translating for his mother after a long embrace.
Confusion and concern continued to proliferate at airports in Houston and elsewhere even after the U.S. State Department reinstated visas for travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries in the wake of the ruling issued Friday by the Federal Dis-
trict Court in Seattle. The Trump administration moved to appeal the ruling late Saturday, further heightening an air of uncertainty about whether travelers from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen would continue to be allowed entry during the temporary window the judge created.
The group of volunteer lawyers gathered at IAH as part of an effort organized by the American Civil Liberties Union to assist those affected by the ban. Throughout the afternoon, family members of people living in the Middle East and Africa approached them with questions about whether they would be allowed to travel to the U.S.
Kamran Makhdoom, an immigration attorney in Houston who volunteered Saturday, anticipated that passengers who had been barred from entry under the ban would begin arriving in the coming days if the opportunity to enter remained. Since Friday, he has been encouraging travelers to seize the chance to travel even amid the uncertainty.
“You are free to come here,” he said. “Right now, it’s like the ban never happened.” ‘Mixed stories’
Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said early Saturday he hadn’t heard whether travelers initially barred from the U.S. had made arrangements to fly after Friday’s ruling. The past week had been chaotic, he noted, adding that some green card holders had been held up in customs after the ban was implemented.
“It’s been real mixed stories,” he said. “A lot of things that happened with the ban were not well thought out.”
Abdul Maniusmani, a U.S. citizen traveling from Pakistan, said he encountered no problems at any point in his trip. But he remained concerned about his son-in-law, a green card holder from Pakistan scheduled to arrive in Houston on Tuesday, even though that country is not included in the ban.
“My daughter is quite worried,” Maniusmani said.
It remained unclear whether any refugees had planned to travel to
“It’s been real mixed stories. A lot of things that happened with the ban were not well thought out.” Mustafaa Carroll, executive director, Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
Houston after the ruling. Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and the YMCA of Greater Houston, two groups leading resettlement efforts, both said Saturday they weren’t expecting any to arrive in the coming days. ‘It came unexpectedly’
A U.S. citizen named Abdel, who declined provide his surname, paced between the greeting area and the arrival screens as he waited for his Algerian mother-in-law to emerge from customs more than an hour and a half after her flight from Qatar touched down. He said he wasn’t expecting her to encounter any problems, but the speed with which the ban took effect made him worry.
“It came unexpectedly,” he said. “What if suddenly they put our country on the list?”
For the past week, lawyers volunteering through the ACLU took shifts at the airport each day from 7 a.m. to midnight to help allay concerns. Lauren Fisher Flores, an immigration attorney in Houston, said she felt compelled to volunteer Saturday to hold the government accountable for the impact of the ban.
“I feel like that’s my duty as an attorney,” she said.
Not everyone was as enthused about the efforts to reverse the effects of the order. Ralph Williams, a 78-year-old Republican, applauded Trump for making good on a campaign promise and recalled several incidents of terror in recent years, noting that he considered the temporary ban necessary for the nation’ s safety.
“If we can prevent that, then God bless us,” he said. “I’m sorry if a few people are inconvenienced.”
Al Baidhani said his mother had been held up in Baghdad as officials determined whether her documentation would allow her into the U.S. She and others were questioned extensively upon arrival and then released without further incident.