CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ayham Oubeid got the news just before Christmas: His brother George Oubeid and his young family had received approval to come to the United States, and live with him in Northeast Ohio.
“He did everything” to obtain legal refugee status, 34-year-old Ayham Oubied said of his older brother. The application. The medical tests. The waiting.
Then President Donald Trump indefinitely banned Syrian refugees last month. And everything stopped for George and his family.
“You imagine, with the war going on in Syria, and he’s taking himself, his wife — his pregnant wife — and his little daughter back to Syria, and we don’t know what’s going to happen in Syria, obviously,” Ayham said.
George is a 37-year-old Syrian native, Christian and college-educated. He settled in Dubai after college, before the Syrian conflict broke out and obtained a work visa as a civil engineer. His brother Ayham lives in North Olmsted with his family, and is a United States citizen. His mom and dad, and younger brother live in North Olmsted and all are citizens, too. The family came from Syria to the United States in 2003, but George was too old to be considered a dependent and had to stay behind.
A letter arrived at Ayham’s home in North Omsted last year, and suggested that George could apply for refugee status. George jumped at the opportunity to rejoin his family in the United States. He followed the steps, and received approval to come to the United States. Ayham, who works at a furniture store, readied for the family’s arrival.
“They said, ‘do you want your brother to come?’ I said, ‘of course I want him to come, he can live in my house, obviously,'” Ayham said.
The flight was set for Feb. 13.
But then Trump changed the immigration rules, turning George’s life upside down. Ayham called as soon as heard something might be up, and told his brother to wait.
“He said, ‘Too late,'” Ayham said.
The family had already sold their car. He pulled his daughter out of school. George had quit his job. His visa in Dubai expires later this month, and if he can’t get it back, he will be forced to return to war-torn Syria.
“Right now he doesn’t know what to do,” Ayham said. “You think about it, if he doesn’t get his visa back in Dubai, if he doesn’t get his job back in Dubai, basically his life is destroyed,” he said.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
