As the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s travel ban continues to seesaw, some travelers whose visas had been canceled last week were able to land Sunday at O’Hare International Airport with little trouble.
On Friday, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily suspended Trump’s executive order, which bars entry of all refugees to the U.S. for 120 days, blocks Syrian refugees indefinitely and implements a 90-day pause on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday unsuccessfully sought an immediate reinstatement of the order in federal appeals court.
However, the status of controversial executive order, signed Jan. 27, is expected to be argued again when the matter is scheduled to go before the appellate court Monday.
In the interim, a group of volunteer attorneys, including Iman Boundaoui, continued to set up shop in O’Hare’s international arrivals terminal as a precaution. They monitored several incoming flights with passengers from the affected countries and found that travelers with visas were spending significantly less time being questioned this weekend.
"It’s a world away from last week," Boundaoui said. "Last week, we saw lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens with dual nationality going through 13-hour secondary inspection."
On Sunday, the attorneys fielded calls from those who were experiencing wait times of roughly two hours.
"There was just sort of long lines," Boundaoui said. "So it was a matter of the quantity of people getting processed."
It was unclear Sunday, however, how many people who had canceled visas were returning after Friday’s court ruling.
Among those who were blocked from entering the U.S. last week were the wife and daughter of Abdusebur Jemal, a 33-year-old medical student living in Rockford.
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After a federal appeals court on Sunday rejected President Trump’s emergency bid to reinstate his contentious travel ban, the White House signaled fresh determination to push forward in a legal dispute that is fast becoming a test of executive power.
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(Laura King)
One day after the Jan. 27 travel restrictions went into effect, Jemal’s wife, Haifa Abdulwahab Hussein Mohammed, and their 3-year-old daughter, Rudaynah Jemal, were prevented from boarding a flight in Ethiopia and joining him in the United States. The family is Yemeni, but his wife and daughter were in Ethiopia as refugees.
For a week, Jemal said, he was so worried about them, he couldn’t sleep or concentrate on his studies.
"They went to the airport and they just told them they could not fly," Jemal recalled. "… Normally, I’m not an emotional person, but it hit me."
"I said, ‘This is not happening to me,’" he added. "She already has a visa that has been dated for the last two years."
With the family caught in limbo, they faced a difficult choice.
"There’s a war ongoing back in Yemen," Jemal said. "That’s one of the things that came to mind. … She told me she’s going back to Yemen. She said it’s better for her even if it means dying. I told her, ‘No, let’s just wait.’"
Abdusebur Jemal was reunited his wife, Haifa Abdulwahab Hussein Mohammed, and daughter, Rudaynah Jemal, 3, at O’Hare International Airport on Feb. 5, 2017. After many years of waiting, Jemal’s wife and daughter were due to arrive last week, but they were kept from coming because of the Trump administration’s travel ban. The family is Yemeni, but the two were in Ethiopia as refugees.
(Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
When a federal judge temporarily suspended the executive order, Jemal immediately booked a flight for his wife and daughter. On Sunday afternoon, Jemal wore a wide smile as he met them, and his daughter handed him a heart-shaped box of chocolates reading "You Rock!"
"That judge is my greatest hero," said Jemal, who became a U.S. citizen in 2008 and married his wife in Yemen in 2011. "That ruling changed everything, at least for me. It turned my life around. My life was like upside-down. I had no idea what was going on. I wasn’t studying. After I heard about this ruling, we booked the ticket, I can finally focus on my studies."
Mohammed and her daughter went through a secondary inspection, which lasted about two hours, family attorney Kalman Resnick said. The volunteer attorneys also touched base with the reunited family and other admitted immigrants in hopes of getting an idea of their experience after Trump’s travel restrictions were shelved.
"They had a few questions," Boundaoui said about Jemal’s wife. "And when she got worried they kind of told her, ‘Don’t worry, your papers are all in order, you’re going to get through.’ So we know from her experience that they are beginning to respect these people."
The lawyers also assisted a Syrian family Sunday who had been blocked from flying to the U.S. last week.
In a statement released Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said it will resume "standard policy and procedure" when it comes to the inspection of travelers, and it intended to pause all actions related to the executive order.
"The order is intended to protect the homeland and the American people, and the president has no higher duty and responsibility than to do so," the statement said.
While the statement characterized the order as "lawful and appropriate," it was onerous enough to inspire Elgin resident Mahra Seward, who said she’s never been engaged in immigration issues, to protest at the airport several times since it was signed.
"These are human beings who have been thrown aside — not even illegal immigrants, but immigrants who are legally here …" Seward said Sunday. "I don’t know. I would want somebody to stand up for me."
Jemal said he understands the desire for more security but feels like the travel restrictions seem "all-encompassing" for refugees and travelers coming into the country.
"The government is trying to protect the American people, but my daughter and wife are not a threat. If anything they are an asset."
In Jemal’s 17 years living in the U.S., he has obtained degrees from Yale University and Stanford University. Currently, in his second year at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, he’s hopeful his wife and daughter will get the same opportunity in the U.S.
"I think we have great institutions, you know, that will protect the people who are defenseless," he said. "I feel like there’s still hope. I’m pretty sure we’ll find a way, eventually."
tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_tonybriscoe
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