NEWS

Families fear for loved ones unable to come to U.S.

Jennifer Chambers
The Detroit News

Troy — Sabah Estephan had marked the day on his calendar — Feb. 1. That was when his two sisters were finally leaving Jordan and arriving at Detroit Metro Airport to start their new lives in America.

They were to land at 11 p.m. in Romulus after a long trans-continental flight that was to come after five years of waiting as refugees in a Jordanian apartment, away from their homeland of Iraq, the same country their brother fled in 2007.

But it was not to be for Sahira and Suad.

Estephan said he woke up Saturday morning to news that President Donald Trump had banned immigrants from seven countries, including Iraq, from entering the United States for a 120-day period.

Estephan, who is Chaldean, said he stared at his sisters’ travel documents and knew they would be left in Jordan, barred from entering the United States by Trump’s controversial executive order.

“I called them right away. They were so sad. They have no one there,” Estephan said. “Two days before the flight, they donated most of their things ... rugs, furniture. It’s very sad. I don’t know how they are going to survive.”

On Thursday, Estephan, a U.S. citizen who lives in West Bloomfield Township, was one of six immigrants who told stories of relatives being left behind in the Middle East, casualties of the president’s ban.

He spoke at the Troy office of Samaritas, Michigan’s largest refugee resettlement agency and the fourth largest in the nation.

Sean De Four, vice president of family and children at Samaritas, said this week that 26 Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq were to arrive in Metro Detroit. They have all been halted and barred from entry.

Six Christian Congolese and Burmese refugees scheduled to arrive in west Michigan will still arrive before Friday, De Four said. But after that, all west Michigan arrivals have been halted as part of the ban on refugee arrivals to America.

De Four said the immigrants who are here and have families abroad are experiencing panic and fear of deportation. For some, the fear of never seeing a loved one again has triggered post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

“We can and should put a human face on these cold political facts,” De Four said.

Qussay Mahdi Salih, an Iraqi Muslim, said he is waiting for his 23-year-old daughter, Zeinab, to come to the United States. Salih and his wife arrived two months ago.

“Our daughter is by herself, alone in Jordan because of this order,” Salih said through an interpreter. “We are so worried about her.”

The couple spent three years in a refugee camp in Jordan before they came to the United States.

“We ask Mr. President to reconsider his decision and welcome refugees,” Salih said.

Sube Jafas, who fled Syria and arrived in the United States in early January, said he was pleased to see Americans and others protesting the ban by taking to the streets and outside airports.

“This made us feel so happy and safe. Those are the real Americans,” Jafas said.