CAIR-NY Files Lawsuit to Reunite Yemeni-American Family Separated by Trump’s Muslim Ban
(NEW YORK, N.Y., 2/1/2022) – The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced the filing of a lawsuit to reunite a Yemeni-American family separated by Trump’s Muslim Ban.
The plaintiffs are Naser Almuganahi and his Yemeni national wife Om Alkheir Alazzar. The plaintiffs have three young daughters, all of whom are U.S. citizens.
The suit alleges that after conducting an interview that took over five years to be scheduled, U.S. Embassy officials in Cairo, Egypt, approved Alazzar’s visa in November 2016. After Embassy officials provided Alazzar a visa approval letter, the Embassy unlawfully revoked the visa and placed it in administrative review. Some 18 months later, Embassy officials rejected the visa application citing Trump’s Muslim Ban.
President Biden signed a presidential proclamation reversing Trump’s Muslim and African Bans on January 20, 2021, as one of his first acts as President. Pursuant to Biden’s proclamation, families denied visas due to the Muslim and African Bans would be reconsidered and/or could re-apply for visas. Alazzar’s visa underwent reconsideration in March 2021 but continues to be stalled in administrative processing again.
In a statement, CAIR-NY Legal Director Ahmed Mohamed said:
“President Biden made a promise to undo the harms of the Muslim Ban and to end family separation. A year into his presidency, President Biden has failed to keep his promise, as this family and countless others continue to suffer as if Trump’s xenophobic policies were still in effect. The prolongment is wreaking further stress and irreparable destruction upon separated families.
“This lawsuit is the Almuganahi family’s last hope of being reunited by being able to resettle together in the United States. This family has struggled for more than a decade to be together and their separation is cruel and without justification. Unfortunately, the Almuganahi family is only one of the thousands stuck in a similar purgatory and denied their rightful opportunity to achieve their version of the American Dream.”
Plaintiff Naser Almuganahi stated:
“I feel like my body is here, but my heart and mind are in Yemen with family. My family’s lives are constantly endangered in Yemen, yet I have no power to protect them. The struggle has consumed our lives for the past decade, and now, what else can I do? The United States government has disappointed us time and time again and has left our family—my three young daughters—with no possibility for a way out.”
Between December 2017 and January 2021, there were a counted 41,876 visas claimed as ineligible under the Muslim Ban. There have been tens of thousands of families who, like CAIR-NY’s client, have faced irreparable physical, mental, economic and emotional damage due to the Muslim Ban.
According to the complaint, Almuganahi filed a petition for visa for his Yemeni national wife, Alazzar. Plaintiffs were interviewed by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo in 2016. The U.S. Embassy orally informed the family that the visa had been granted and provided written documentation stating “Your visa is approved” months before the Muslim Ban went into effect. However, the visa was never printed and given to Alazzar. After the Supreme Court lifted the stay on Trump’s Muslim Ban, the U.S. Embassy denied the visa application, applying the Muslim Ban retroactively.
Almuganahi is a U.S. citizen and long-time resident of New York City. Almuganahi and Alazzar have three children, all U.S. citizens. Almuganahi’s wife and children live in Yemen, which is currently being ravaged by famine, disease, and general collapse from civil war. Almuganahi seeks to reunite his family in America to escape the violence in Yemen.
The lawsuit brought by CAIR-NY argues that these actions violate federal laws and the Constitution. It seeks an order from the court to force the U.S. Embassy to issue the visa that was already approved.
Muslims who have had their previously approved visas revoked because of the Muslim Ban are being urged to contact CAIR-NY for assistance by filing an incident report online at https://www.cair-ny.org/incident-report or calling 646-665-7599.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR-NY Legal Director Ahmed Mohamed, ahmedmohamed@cair.com, 646-481-2103; CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, anasher@cair.com, 917-669-4006