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Trapped by the Muslim Ban: Act for Mustafa*

Yemenis who left everything behind to come to the US have been stuck in Malaysia for months because of the discriminatory Muslim and Refugee Travel Ban.

Most recently, the Trump Administration issued the latest update to the Muslim and Refugee Travel Ban. Known as Muslim Ban 3.0, it indefinitely bans citizens from eight countries from entering the United States, including five of the countries from the previous ban, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and Iran. It also expanded the scope of the ban to include North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela. Sudan has now been taken off of the list of banned countries. Many people are trapped in limbo as a result of the ban.

“We are stuck in Malaysia and we don’t know what to do,” Mustafa told us. He and dozens of others are trapped. Mustafa and many others like him have escaped dangerous countries where bombs are falling. They have left everything behind, only to be stranded.

Dozens of Yemenis won an opportunity to immigrate to the United States through the Diversity Visa Program and travelled to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, in late 2016 and early 2017 for processing at the US embassy. After their interviews at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the embassy informed them that either their diversity visas were in administrative processing or that their applications had been denied.

Now that President Trump extended the Muslim ban indefinitely, we must urgently act. We can’t let this cruel ban trap Mustafa and countless others.

*a pseudonym was used to protect his identity

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

Consul General

Matthew

Keene

US Consul to Malaysia

I urge you to process the visa applications of Yemeni nationals by the end of September.
 
Dozens of Yemenis won an opportunity to immigrate to the United States through the Diversity Visa Program and travelled to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, in late 2016 and early 2017 for processing at the US embassy. After their interviews at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the embassy informed them that either their diversity visas were in administrative processing or that their applications had been denied.
 
After attending interviews in the US embassy, the Immigrant Visa Unit of the embassy notified nine of the group with whom Amnesty International has communicated that as a result of the Executive Order banning travel to the US by individuals from six Muslim-majority countries (including Yemen), their applications would remain in administrative processing until the 90-day period of travel restriction passes. Given the issuance of a new version of the travel ban on 24 September, which extends travel restrictions for travelers from yemen indefinitely, these diversity visa winners will be prevented from having their visas processed and potentially immigration to the USA. However, the current diversity applications will be nullified at the end of September due to the visa lottery cycle and the travel ban that has been extended by presidential proclamation.
 
Despite the fact that the 50,000 cap on diversity visas for 2017 has been met, but for the issuance of the Executive Order, these applications would have been considered and processed. Amnesty International also interviewed or received written testimony from 25 Yemeni nationals whose diversity visa applications were denied after their interviews at the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The majority informed Amnesty International that their applications were rejected due to doubts about their educational certificates and experience, despite, according to the individuals, having valid copies of their documentation that were certified by the Ministry of Education, the Foreign Ministry or the embassy of Yemen. Amnesty International understands that some of these cases have since been discussed at consular level and that an agreement was made to review them, but before this review could be completed, it was put on hold due to the Supreme Court decision.
 
Given that these visas were in process prior to the extension of the travel ban on 24 September and the annual cap on diversity visas being met, the embassy should avoid further harm by immediately resuming the diversity visa processing for these individuals, including the expediting the review of any cases that were previously reopened.