12-year-old girl receives warm welcome from Los Banos community

It took a six-year vetting process and an unexpected legal battle, but members of a Los Banos family are finally celebrating a reunion.

Community members and U.S. Rep. Jim Costa joined supporters of Ahmed Ali’s family on Saturday to welcome their 12-year-old daughter, Eman.

The celebration came one week after the girl arrived at San Francisco International Airport from Yemen, where she had been waiting for years to join her parents and siblings.

“I’m really happy and excited we’re all here together,” Ahmed Ali told the Sun-Star. “Honestly, I didn’t expect this much support.”

Though Ali, his wife and other children are U.S. citizens, Eman’s entry into the United States was beset by delays. Her mother had opted to return to Yemen to give birth to her, in order to have the support of her family at the time. But as the nation’s civil unrest worsened, they discovered that winning permission for Eman to enter the U.S. would take longer than imagined.

After negotiating a complex bureaucracy to secure her visa, Ali and Eman discovered a new roadblock Jan. 28 when they attempted to board their flight to the United States: Hours earlier, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order barring travelers from Yemen and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the country for 90 days.

The White House has insisted the order is needed to protect national security. A challenge filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota, however, contends the order violates the Constitution.

Ali and Eman were finally able to board a U.S.-bound flight after a court challenge suspended enforcement of the order. Upon arriving, Eman secured her U.S. citizenship.

After seeing their plight draw wide media attention, the shy, smiling girl stood before cameras once again as Los Banos community members and elected officials gathered at Henry Miller Plaza to officially welcome her.

Individuals held up signs saying: “No ban, no wall” and “We love you, Ahmed and Eman.”

Ali described the week he spent waiting with Eman at a hotel in the east African nation of Djibouti as the court battle played out as the “longest week for me.” He said he tried to explain to Eman and her 14-year-old sister, Salma, why this was happening, but they cried continually.

“I’m glad we’re here,” Ali said. “I feel bad because there (are) a lot of people in our situation.”

After Trump issued his executive order that halted immigration from several countries, Salma said she felt “kind of sad and scared.”

“I was scared because I didn’t think she was going to come,” Salma said. “When I saw her, it was so exciting.”

Katy Lewis, the attorney who’s been representing the Ali family for more than six years, said when Ali called her to say the two were turned away from their flight, “my heart sunk – that this was the impact: that this family was going to be divided because of this flawed, unconstitutional and un-American executive order.”

The process to obtain a visa for Eman has been “extensive,” Lewis said, and they worked “round the clock” making sure she’d be able to board every plane on her way home.

“Los Banos and the greater community came out and realized what an injustice this situation was, and that help and support made a huge difference,” Lewis said.

Since Eman’s arrival, Salma said, they have been doing “girl stuff” together, such as painting each other’s fingernails and doing each other’s hair. Salma has been teaching her sister some English, she said, so she can prepare for her new school.

Ali said Eman is set to start the sixth grade on Thursday at Miano Elementary School in Los Banos. It will be a big change for her, Ali said, because school in the U.S is different from school in Yemen.

Eman stopped going to school in Yemen for a year and a half, Ali said, because of the war.

“It was too dangerous to be outside,” he said. “Everything is new for her. She’s got a new life.”

To help Eman prepare for school, Costa, D-Fresno, presented her with a purple and blue backpack filled with supplies such as notebooks, pencils and highlighters.

All of the supplies, he said, will hopefully help Eman “do the very best she can do.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "12-year-old girl receives warm welcome from Los Banos community."