As’Salaamu Alaikum,
I write to you on behalf of our legal team as the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies while at the same time our communities attempt to return to some semblance of a normal life particularly relating to employment and religious services.
CAIR-SFBA’s legal team has been advocating on behalf of Yemeni Americans who are currently stranded in Yemen, a country engulfed by a five–year long civil war that has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and the COVID-19 global pandemic has only exacerbated the crisis in Yemen. CAIR-SFBA, along with CAIR chapters nationwide, have demanded that congressional representatives and the U.S. Department of State immediately take all necessary steps to ensure the safe and secure return of Yemeni Americans to the U.S. Additionally, the #BringThemHome campaign, launched by CAIR, the Yemeni American Association, Yemeni Alliance Committee, Asian Law Caucus, and others, asks the U.S. government to guarantee that all U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) with expired or missing travel documents are provided immediate assistance or travel waivers.
On March 14, 2020, the Yemeni government announced that it would suspend all international flights as part of its effort to stymie the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, despite many previously booked travel arrangements, Yemeni Americans were forced to shelter in place without adequate resources to provide for their continued stay, and leaving them at grave risk of exposure to COVID-19 as the health sector in Yemen has effectively collapsed, as per the United Nations, under the weight of the ongoing war, prolonged famine, and the Chikungunya virus. As of the end of June, more than 1,000 U.S. nationals remained stranded in Yemen. Many Yemeni Americans were forced to travel to Yemen due to long periods of separation from their families, imposed by the indefinite Muslim Ban, and were scheduled to return to the U.S. before the latest border closures.
While CAIR-SFBA welcomed the news that the State Department had scheduled two flights on June 28 and July 1, departing from Aden, Yemen to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and then onwards to Washington-Dulles International Airport – a number of CAIR-SFBA’s clients have been unable to board those flights because of the limited availability of seats or that their travel documents have expired while stranded in Yemen.
Among the stories of hardship that Yemeni Americans in the Bay Area have been faced with include a situation involving a prematurely born baby of U.S. citizen parents who would currently be unable to come to the U.S. given her lack of a passport and there being no U.S. consular presence in Yemen to assist potential travelers with expired passports or visas.
In another incident, a 20-year-old Yemeni American woman, who left for Yemen a little over a year ago to visit her husband and who is currently six months pregnant, is unable to return home because of the COVID-19 related restrictions particularly on flights leaving or entering Yemen. In addition, she was scheduled to start college earlier this year but was forced to miss her first semester.
In a final concerning example, an older Yemeni American man who recently had a leg amputated in Yemen requires urgent life-saving surgery to amputate his other leg given that he suffers from diabetes. With Yemeni hospitals and cities running out of access to life-saving medication, this individual needs to return immediately to access the medical care he needs to survive.
This work is ongoing and urgent. If you know of anyone who is stranded abroad in Yemen or elsewhere, our team is ready to advise and assist them. Please encourage them, or their family members in the U.S. to call 408.986.9874 or fill out a report online.
Sincerely,
Ammad Rafiqi, Esq.
Civil Rights & Legal Services Coordinator