Los Banos family have hope of ‘achieving the American Dream,’ Costa says
WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday to speak about Ahmed Ali of Los Banos, who has been working to bring his12-year-old daughter, Eman, out of their native Yemen and join the rest of their family in Merced County. Ali and the girl have been in the east African country of Djibouti after an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Friday prevented the girl from traveling to the U.S. despite having been granted an immigrant visa.
The following is the text of Costa’s remarks:
Mr. Speaker,
I rise today to call attention to a 12-year-old girl, Eman Ali, who is stuck in Djibouti. Eman and her father, Ahmed Ali, who is an American citizen, are in Djibouti because of President Trump’s flawed executive order to ban travel to the United States.
The Ali family is like many immigrant families throughout our country, including my own, who came to the United States in hopes of achieving the American Dream. As Americans, we know that the statue of liberty is a symbol of freedom and new beginnings for immigrants past and immigrants present. Since the founding of our country, immigrants from all over the world have been coming to the United States to make a better life for themselves and their families. Mr. Ali and his wife immigrated to the United States and earned U.S. citizenship in hopes of achieving that American dream.
They have been making a living in my district and supporting their two daughters in Los Banos, California, but they’ve also been living with sadness and heartbreak. Their 12-year-old daughter, Eman, was born in Yemen. And for six years, the Ali family has been working through the appropriate channels to get their daughter a visa so she can gain U.S. citizenship and be reunited with her family.
On January 26, after years of going through a thorough vetting process, Eman, finally received her immigrant visa. One day later, on the 27th, President Donald Trump turned the Ali family’s and hundreds of other families lives upside down by signing an executive order to implement a travel ban to prohibit refugees and others from coming to the United States. Hours after the executive order was signed, Eman and her father went to the airport in Djibouti, passed through security and when boarding the plane, Eman was told by the airline that she could not board because of the recently signed executive order.
The Immigrant visa issued to Eman would have given her status as a lawful permanent resident upon entering the U.S. and since she is 12 years old and both of her parents are U.S. citizens, Eman would have been immediately eligible to file for U.S. citizenship. President Trump’s executive order is preventing this legal process from taking place, and is putting Eman and her father in harm’s way while they wait in Djibouti.
In the past 48 hours, the Trump Administration has been defending the executive order, saying it is not a travel ban or a ban on refugees. So I would like to ask the President - How is the executive order not a ban on refugees and on individuals who have been approved to enter the United States? And how is keeping a 12-year-old girl out of the United States making Americans safer? It’s not making Americans safer. Extreme vetting was in place during both the Bush and Obama Administrations.
This travel ban is flawed, both in its lack of adherence to American values and in its technical execution, and could possibly be ruled unconstitutional. A bipartisan group of national security experts agree that the executive order does not make Americans safer and could potentially put our country at greater risk for terrorist attacks. I agree with them.
Since September 11, 2001, we have focused bipartisan effort to improve security for Americans both at home and abroad, and by and large, it’s been successful.
It is our first Constitutional duty to ensure the national defense and the safety of Americans, and President Trump’s executive order is doing the opposite. The executive order will create a rallying cry for Islamic extremists to say that America is now engaged in a war against the religion of Islam. No good can come from this.
It’s clear that this executive order is putting Eman and her father in harm’s way. So Mr. President and Secretary Kelly, I appeal to your compassion and commonsense. This 12-year-old girl has been extremely vetted. She is not a threat to our country. Let her join her American family.
My staff and I are working diligently through the appropriate channels with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to bring Mr. Ali and his daughter home as soon as possible.
Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.
This story was originally published February 1, 2017 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Los Banos family have hope of ‘achieving the American Dream,’ Costa says."