A father living in Canada faces indefinite separation from his son with Trump's travel ban
Noor, 19, lives in Michigan with his grandparents. His refugee claim was severed from his parents in 2019. He was deemed inadmissible because he was born in the U.S.
After years of living in Canadian immigration limbo, a father fears that U.S. President Donald Trump's new travel ban will separate his oldest child from him.
Mohammad Alshuwaiter is a Yemeni refugee living in Ottawa, but his son, Noor, lives in Dearborn, Michigan with his grandparents.
Yemen is one of the 12 countries included in Trump's executive order banning its citizens from entering the U.S. The others are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
The U.S. president has accused the countries of insufficient vetting of travel documents, high visa overstay rates, and in some cases, of being state sponsors of terrorism.
When it takes effect on June 9, immigration lawyers say there could be thousands of foreign nationals like Alshuwaiter in Canada who will be prevented from entering the United States.
'People who are not yet citizens of Canada will be affected deeply and be caught up in the sweeping breadth of this proclamation,' says Ottawa immigration lawyer Warren Creates.
He says permanent residents from banned countries should expect to have their freedom curtailed at the border.
'Some who've already had their backgrounds vetted by our national security services, by outlaw enforcement and think that they're safe and in the past have been able to freely travel to the United States -- that will no longer be true,' Creates said.
Such warnings are adding to the weight on Alshuwaiter's shoulders.
The 49-year-old international law and human rights researcher says Trump's new policy will add a 'layer of suffering' to what he has experienced so far in the Canadian immigration system.
Trump travel ban
Trump's travel ban could prevent Alshuwaiter, a Yemeni National from crossing into the U.S. to visit his son.
He last saw his 19-year-old son in March and worries that it could be years before he can embrace his son again.
'(Noor) is studying abroad. How can I support him? I am broken-hearted,' said Alshuwaiter in an emotional interview with CTV News.
Alshuwaiter's immigration challenges began under the first Trump administration.
After he was awarded a U.S. Fullbright scholarship to study law at American University in Washington, D.C., Alshuwaiter moved his wife and two kids to the U.S. They arrived just three months before civil war broke out in Yemen.
Because his wife was related to Yemen's deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the couple, concerned about their safety, applied for asylum in the U.S. They were rejected in 2018, a year after Trump issued his first travel ban on countries with predominantly Muslim populations.
That's when the family decided to claim refugee status in Canada. The threat of family separation has hung over the family since they began the process to get permanent residence status.
In May 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada ruled that Noor, who was 13-years-old at the time, could not be part of his parent's asylum claim because he was born in the U.S. and was therefore 'neither a conventional refugee, nor a person in need of protection.'
After being categorized as a failed refugee applicant, the possibility of deportation loomed over Noor. But Alshuwaiter was hopeful all would work out once their permanent residence application was approved.
Alshuwaiter's immigration lawyer Jacqueline Bonisteel says in immigration cases in which a minor is born in another country, the child is usually granted PR status, once the parents' applications are approved.
It's a process that usually takes about three years, but Alshuwaiter's PR application has dragged on for more than twice that length of time. Despite multiple requests for updates, Bonisteel says immigration authorities have refused to provide information as to what is causing the delays.
Meanwhile Alshuwaiter could see the growing frustration in his eldest son as he entered high school.
'I'm happy to sacrifice my career to give my kids a better life - but when I'm screwed - my kids' (lives) are screwed too.'
Trump travel ban
Yemen is one of the 12 countries included in Trump's executive order banning its citizens from entering the U.S.
As an American kid without status living in Canada, Noor couldn't do basic things that teenagers take for granted. He couldn't get a social insurance number, so he could not open a bank account. He couldn't get a job or get a driver's license.
'It made me feel different. More different than my parents. They didn't have (PR) status, but I was even less than that.' said Noor in a FaceTime interview from Detroit.
Noor said he also wanted to start applying for college programs, but because he was born in the U.S., he would have to pay international student fees, which his parents could not afford.
After Noor told his father that he 'felt like nothing,' Alshuwaiter and his wife made the decision to send Noor to Michigan to live with his grandparents in 2023 and to continue his schooling.
Enrolled in a college construction engineering program, Noor would take a break from his studies every few months to return to Ottawa.
His journey across the border by Greyhound bus would always involve being pulled aside for additional questioning. But after explaining to Canadian border officials his family's immigration status and showing them his American passport, Noor says he would usually be waived through. But those visits ended abruptly last month.
In May, a CBSA agent decided to enforce the 2019 immigration ruling which labeled Noor a failed refugee applicant. He was denied entry into Canada and flagged for deportation should he return. He was only a half hour away from where his parents and younger brother were waiting for him in Windsor, Ont.
Meanwhile his father is suing Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada in Federal Court to force the government to disclose the reasons for delay and to issue a decision on granting him permanent residence. It has been seven years since he first applied, and so far, no court date has been set.
Even if Alshuwaiter gets permanent residence status, it won't be enough to get around Trump's new travel ban. For that, he needs to be a Canadian citizen.
Until then, the Alshuwaiter family remain in a state of limbo, forced to separate by the immigration policies of two countries they had hoped to call home.
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CTV News
19 minutes ago
- CTV News
A father living in Canada faces indefinite separation from his son with Trump's travel ban
Noor, 19, lives in Michigan with his grandparents. His refugee claim was severed from his parents in 2019. He was deemed inadmissible because he was born in the U.S. After years of living in Canadian immigration limbo, a father fears that U.S. President Donald Trump's new travel ban will separate his oldest child from him. Mohammad Alshuwaiter is a Yemeni refugee living in Ottawa, but his son, Noor, lives in Dearborn, Michigan with his grandparents. Yemen is one of the 12 countries included in Trump's executive order banning its citizens from entering the U.S. The others are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Sudan. The U.S. president has accused the countries of insufficient vetting of travel documents, high visa overstay rates, and in some cases, of being state sponsors of terrorism. When it takes effect on June 9, immigration lawyers say there could be thousands of foreign nationals like Alshuwaiter in Canada who will be prevented from entering the United States. 'People who are not yet citizens of Canada will be affected deeply and be caught up in the sweeping breadth of this proclamation,' says Ottawa immigration lawyer Warren Creates. He says permanent residents from banned countries should expect to have their freedom curtailed at the border. 'Some who've already had their backgrounds vetted by our national security services, by outlaw enforcement and think that they're safe and in the past have been able to freely travel to the United States -- that will no longer be true,' Creates said. Such warnings are adding to the weight on Alshuwaiter's shoulders. The 49-year-old international law and human rights researcher says Trump's new policy will add a 'layer of suffering' to what he has experienced so far in the Canadian immigration system. Trump travel ban Trump's travel ban could prevent Alshuwaiter, a Yemeni National from crossing into the U.S. to visit his son. He last saw his 19-year-old son in March and worries that it could be years before he can embrace his son again. '(Noor) is studying abroad. How can I support him? I am broken-hearted,' said Alshuwaiter in an emotional interview with CTV News. Alshuwaiter's immigration challenges began under the first Trump administration. After he was awarded a U.S. Fullbright scholarship to study law at American University in Washington, D.C., Alshuwaiter moved his wife and two kids to the U.S. They arrived just three months before civil war broke out in Yemen. Because his wife was related to Yemen's deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the couple, concerned about their safety, applied for asylum in the U.S. They were rejected in 2018, a year after Trump issued his first travel ban on countries with predominantly Muslim populations. That's when the family decided to claim refugee status in Canada. The threat of family separation has hung over the family since they began the process to get permanent residence status. In May 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada ruled that Noor, who was 13-years-old at the time, could not be part of his parent's asylum claim because he was born in the U.S. and was therefore 'neither a conventional refugee, nor a person in need of protection.' After being categorized as a failed refugee applicant, the possibility of deportation loomed over Noor. But Alshuwaiter was hopeful all would work out once their permanent residence application was approved. Alshuwaiter's immigration lawyer Jacqueline Bonisteel says in immigration cases in which a minor is born in another country, the child is usually granted PR status, once the parents' applications are approved. It's a process that usually takes about three years, but Alshuwaiter's PR application has dragged on for more than twice that length of time. Despite multiple requests for updates, Bonisteel says immigration authorities have refused to provide information as to what is causing the delays. Meanwhile Alshuwaiter could see the growing frustration in his eldest son as he entered high school. 'I'm happy to sacrifice my career to give my kids a better life - but when I'm screwed - my kids' (lives) are screwed too.' Trump travel ban Yemen is one of the 12 countries included in Trump's executive order banning its citizens from entering the U.S. As an American kid without status living in Canada, Noor couldn't do basic things that teenagers take for granted. He couldn't get a social insurance number, so he could not open a bank account. He couldn't get a job or get a driver's license. 'It made me feel different. More different than my parents. They didn't have (PR) status, but I was even less than that.' said Noor in a FaceTime interview from Detroit. Noor said he also wanted to start applying for college programs, but because he was born in the U.S., he would have to pay international student fees, which his parents could not afford. After Noor told his father that he 'felt like nothing,' Alshuwaiter and his wife made the decision to send Noor to Michigan to live with his grandparents in 2023 and to continue his schooling. Enrolled in a college construction engineering program, Noor would take a break from his studies every few months to return to Ottawa. His journey across the border by Greyhound bus would always involve being pulled aside for additional questioning. But after explaining to Canadian border officials his family's immigration status and showing them his American passport, Noor says he would usually be waived through. But those visits ended abruptly last month. In May, a CBSA agent decided to enforce the 2019 immigration ruling which labeled Noor a failed refugee applicant. He was denied entry into Canada and flagged for deportation should he return. He was only a half hour away from where his parents and younger brother were waiting for him in Windsor, Ont. Meanwhile his father is suing Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada in Federal Court to force the government to disclose the reasons for delay and to issue a decision on granting him permanent residence. It has been seven years since he first applied, and so far, no court date has been set. Even if Alshuwaiter gets permanent residence status, it won't be enough to get around Trump's new travel ban. For that, he needs to be a Canadian citizen. Until then, the Alshuwaiter family remain in a state of limbo, forced to separate by the immigration policies of two countries they had hoped to call home.
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CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to U.S. for a better life
Mohammad Sharafoddin, left, and his wife, Nuriya, right, show a photo of their niece in Afghanistan who won't be able to travel to the U.S., under the new travel ban, during an interview at their home in Irmo, S.C., on Saturday, June 7 2025. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) IRMO, S.C. — Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and young son walked at times for 36 hours in a row over mountain passes as they left Afghanistan as refugees to end up less than a decade later talking about their journey on a plush love seat in the family's three-bedroom suburban American home. He and his wife dreamed of bringing her niece to the United States to share in that bounty. Maybe she could study to become a doctor and then decide her own path. But that door slams shut on Monday as America put in place a travel ban for people from Afghanistan and a dozen other countries. 'It's kind of shock for us when we hear about Afghanistan, especially right now for ladies who are affected more than others with the new government,' Mohammad Sharafoddin said, referring to the country's Taliban rulers. 'We didn't think about this travel ban.' Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Western forces were in the final phase of their withdrawal from the country, they have barred education for women and girls beyond sixth grade, most employment and many public spaces. Last August, the Taliban introduced laws that ban women's voices and bare faces outside the home. President Donald Trump signed the travel ban Wednesday. It is similar to one in place during his first administration but covers more countries. Along with Afghanistan, travel to the U.S. is banned from Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump said visitors who overstay visas, like the man charged in an attack that injured dozens of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, are a danger to the country. The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, which isn't included in the ban. The countries chosen for the ban have deficient screening of their citizens, often refuse to take them back and have a high percentage of people who stay in the U.S. after their visas expire, Trump said. The ban makes exceptions for people from Afghanistan on Special Immigrant Visas who generally worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade war there. Thousands of refugees came from Afghanistan Afghanistan was also one of the largest sources of resettled refugees, with about 14,000 arrivals in a 12-month period through September 2024. Trump suspended refugee resettlement on his first day in office. It is a path Sharafoddin took with his wife and son out of Afghanistan walking on those mountain roads in the dark then through Pakistan, Iran and into Turkey. He worked in a factory for years in Turkey, listening to YouTube videos on headphones to learn English before he was resettled in Irmo, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia. His son is now 11, and he and his wife had a daughter in the U.S. who is now three. There is a job at a jewelry maker that allows him to afford a two-story, three-bedroom house. Food was laid out on two tables Saturday for a celebration of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. Sharafoddin's wife, Nuriya, said she is learning English and driving — two things she couldn't do in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. 'I'm very happy to be here now, because my son is very good at school and my daughter also. I think after 18 years they are going to work, and my daughter is going to be able to go to college,' she said. The family wants to help a niece It is a life she wanted for her niece too. The couple show videos from their cellphones of her drawing and painting. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, their niece could no longer study. So they started to plan to get her to the U.S. at least to further her education. Nuriya Sharafoddin doesn't know if her niece has heard the news from America yet. She hasn't had the heart to call and tell her. 'I'm not ready to call her. This is not good news. This is very sad news because she is worried and wants to come,' Nuriya Sharafoddin said. While the couple spoke, Jim Ray came by. He has helped a number of refugee families settle in Columbia and helped the Sharafoddins navigate questions in their second language. Ray said Afghans in Columbia know the return of the Taliban changed how the U.S. deals with their native country. But while the ban allows spouses, children or parents to travel to America, other family members aren't included. Many Afghans know their extended families are starving or suffering, and suddenly a path to help is closed, Ray said. 'We'll have to wait and see how the travel ban and the specifics of it actually play out,' Ray said. 'This kind of thing that they're experiencing where family cannot be reunited is actually where it hurts the most.' The Taliban criticize the travel ban The Taliban have criticized Trump for the ban, with their top leader Hibatullah Akhundzada saying the U.S. was now the oppressor of the world. 'Citizens from 12 countries are barred from entering their land — and Afghans are not allowed either,' he said on a recording shared on social media. 'Why? Because they claim the Afghan government has no control over its people and that people are leaving the country. So, oppressor! Is this what you call friendship with humanity?' Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press
