Al jazeera :
Najeeb al-Omari’s eyebrows furrow as he sits on the front steps of his home in the province of Ibb in central Yemen, describing how his daughter, who has a severe mental health condition, had recently been denied a United States visa.
Omari, a US citizen, has been trying to get visas for his 11-year-old daughter Shaima – whose severe mental and physical disabilities have been compounded by Yemen’s civil war – his wife Asma, and two other daughters, Salma, aged 8 and Lamiya, aged 6.
“I did all I can; sold everything I’ve got and knocked on every door I know,” Omari says, holding Shaima on his lap, her mouth slightly ajar as she looked up at the morning sun.
“The ban has left us with no hope,” he tells Al Jazeera in a video call.
“We’re completely helpless in the middle of this war,” he adds, moving the tip of his checkered headdress to shade her eyes from the sun.
Omari’s family is among thousands of Yemeni-Americans who have been stranded in Djibouti for months or forced back into war-torn Yemen after being denied visas to travel to the US due to controversial travel restrictions – often referred to as the Muslim ban – implemented by US President Donald Trump.
Unveiled in September, the third version of the ban was allowed to come into full force on December 8, even as it was challenged in courts. It restricts travel for nationals of five Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen – as well as some individuals from Venezuela and North Korea.
The Trump administration maintains the restrictions are intended to target countries that inadequately vet prospective migrants to the US and therefore represent a threat to US security. Human rights groups and others argue, however, that it disproportionately targets Muslims.
This week, the Supreme Court will hear final arguments in a challenge to the ban, with a ruling expected in June.
For those trying to flee Yemen, these restrictions have come at a considerable cost.
While many families face prolonged waiting times, most visa applications have been rejected, according to families and lawyers who have worked on the applications.
Only about 100 waivers – which allows for case by case assessments of applications that need urgent medical care, or ones where denial would cause “undue hardship” – were granted between December 2017 and January 2018, according State Department data provided to Reuters news agency.
Omari’s family was not one them.
The 39-year-old father was dividing his time between California, where he worked at a petrol station, and Ibb, where his wife and three daughters had been living, since 2010 when he was granted US citizenship, 13 years after moving to the US.
“I was happy for the girls to grow up in Yemen; Shaima’s condition was stable and everything was fine,” Omari tells Al Jazeera.
But after a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthi rebels who had taken over Sanaa in 2014, Omari decided it was time to bring his family to the US.
“Providing Shaima with the healthcare she needed was becoming increasingly difficult. So many doctors had left Yemen and the medication she depended on was no longer readily available,” he explains.
Najeeb al-Omari’s eyebrows furrow as he sits on the front steps of his home in the province of Ibb in central Yemen, describing how his daughter, who has a severe mental health condition, had recently been denied a United States visa.
Omari, a US citizen, has been trying to get visas for his 11-year-old daughter Shaima – whose severe mental and physical disabilities have been compounded by Yemen’s civil war – his wife Asma, and two other daughters, Salma, aged 8 and Lamiya, aged 6.
“I did all I can; sold everything I’ve got and knocked on every door I know,” Omari says, holding Shaima on his lap, her mouth slightly ajar as she looked up at the morning sun.
“The ban has left us with no hope,” he tells Al Jazeera in a video call.
“We’re completely helpless in the middle of this war,” he adds, moving the tip of his checkered headdress to shade her eyes from the sun.
Omari’s family is among thousands of Yemeni-Americans who have been stranded in Djibouti for months or forced back into war-torn Yemen after being denied visas to travel to the US due to controversial travel restrictions – often referred to as the Muslim ban – implemented by US President Donald Trump.
Unveiled in September, the third version of the ban was allowed to come into full force on December 8, even as it was challenged in courts. It restricts travel for nationals of five Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen – as well as some individuals from Venezuela and North Korea.
The Trump administration maintains the restrictions are intended to target countries that inadequately vet prospective migrants to the US and therefore represent a threat to US security. Human rights groups and others argue, however, that it disproportionately targets Muslims.
This week, the Supreme Court will hear final arguments in a challenge to the ban, with a ruling expected in June.
For those trying to flee Yemen, these restrictions have come at a considerable cost.
While many families face prolonged waiting times, most visa applications have been rejected, according to families and lawyers who have worked on the applications.
Only about 100 waivers – which allows for case by case assessments of applications that need urgent medical care, or ones where denial would cause “undue hardship” – were granted between December 2017 and January 2018, according State Department data provided to Reuters news agency.
Omari’s family was not one them.
The 39-year-old father was dividing his time between California, where he worked at a petrol station, and Ibb, where his wife and three daughters had been living, since 2010 when he was granted US citizenship, 13 years after moving to the US.
“I was happy for the girls to grow up in Yemen; Shaima’s condition was stable and everything was fine,” Omari tells Al Jazeera.
But after a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthi rebels who had taken over Sanaa in 2014, Omari decided it was time to bring his family to the US.
“Providing Shaima with the healthcare she needed was becoming increasingly difficult. So many doctors had left Yemen and the medication she depended on was no longer readily available,” he explains.
