Syria refugees see dream of better life crushed by Trump ban
ASSOCIATED RPESS
Ammar Sawan, 40, a Syrian refugee from Moadamiyeh, outside Damascus, speaks during an interview in his family’s home in Amman, Jordan on Sat. Jan. 28, 2017. Sawan and his family took their first step toward resettlement in the United States three months ago, submitting to an initial round of security screenings. His dreams of a better life were crushed when President Donald Trump issued an indefinite ban on displaced Syrians entering the United States.
AMMAN, Jordan >> Syrian refugee Ammar Sawan took a first hopeful step toward moving to the United States last fall, submitting to an initial security screening.
His dream of a better life was abruptly crushed when President Donald Trump banned Syrian refugees from the U.S. until further notice.
Sawan learned of the entry ban while watching late night TV news with his wife in their small apartment in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
“When we heard of the order, it was like a bolt of lightning, and all our hopes and dreams vanished,” the 40-year-old said Saturday, a day after Trump’s executive order.
He and other Syrian refugees bristled at the idea that they pose a potential security threat, saying they are peaceful people fleeing persecution.
Some warned that the new U.S. policy will be seen as targeting Muslims and further inflame anti-American sentiment in the region.
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“This decision made the U.S. loose its reputation in the world as the biggest economy, the biggest democracy,” said refugee Nasser Sheik, 44, who was paralyzed by a stroke two years ago and lives with his family in Amman.
“We are not going out to harm people of other countries,” added his wife Madaya, 37.
Trump on Friday suspended all refugee admissions to the U.S. for four months and banned the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely pending a security review meant to ensure terrorists cannot slip through vetting. Trump also issued a 90-day ban on all entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries with terrorism concerns, including Syria.
At the time of Trump’s decision, more than 27,000 Syrian refugees from 11 Middle Eastern host countries were being considered for resettlement to the U.S. and were in various stages of the approval process, according to the International Organization for Migration.
During the last budget year, the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 from Syria.
Close to 5 million Syrians have fled their country since an uprising against President Bashar Assad erupted in 2011 and escalated into civil war.
Most refugees have settled in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon where their struggle for survival gets tougher every day.
Savings have run out, jobs are poorly paid and refugee children learn in crowded classrooms. Many refugees prefer to return home, but that’s not an option as long as the war continues. Eager to escape tough conditions in the host countries, resettlement to the West now seems the best alternative.
Ammar Sawan fled the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh in 2012, after he was roughed up by pro-Assad militiamen and feared eventual arrest.
His wife Sanaa, 35, and three sons followed him a year later, fleeing government shelling. The couple had a fourth child, a girl, in Jordan, last year.
The family struggles to cover rent, utilities and school transportation for the three oldest, especially during the winter when Sawan’s income from his part-time work as an upholsterer drops.
Sawan worries about his children, including bullying in school. His oldest, 15-year-old Khaled, said Jordanian students sometimes pick fights with Syrians school mates.
Sawan said he underwent the first round of security vetting for possible resettlement to the U.S. in October.
With a new life in America suddenly in reach, he began to dream of a decent education for his children and a stable income for the family.
“My dream, even before the war in Syria, was to live in America,” he said, as the family huddled around a gas heater in the living room.
Now he is disappointed in America. “We are not terrorists and we don’t support terrorism,” he said.
Refugee aid groups said Trump’s ban is hurting innocent people.
“It will not make America safer,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said by phone from Oslo. “It will make America smaller and meaner.”
He said the new U.S. policy deals a blow to international responsibility for those fleeing persecution, an idea forged in the aftermath of the Holocaust when Jews and others seeking safe haven were often let down.
Others said U.S. security checks of refugees are already robust, involving biometric screening and up to three years of vetting.
The suspension of the refugee admissions allows for exceptions, including for members of minority faiths claiming persecution, such as Christians in Muslim-majority countries.
Feras Zahka, 35, a Syrian Christian who fled to Turkey, is in the final stages of vetting to immigrate to the U.S., but now fears he won’t be able to go.
“I was going through security screenings before the (US) elections took place,” he said by phone from Istanbul, where he works as a hotel receptionist. “I am scared my file will be scrapped.”
Bashir al-Saadi, 67, a Christian in the town of Qamishli in northern Syria, said giving preferential treatment to Christians could raise tensions with their Muslim neighbors.
“Giving visas to Christians (only) will give the impression that the U.S. is a Christian state and is standing against Islam,” said al-Saadi who has family in the U.S. “This will trigger resentment, might foment religious conflict and reflect badly on us.”
Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, who fled his hometown of Palmyra in Syria, said Trump’s decision will serve as propaganda fodder for Islamic State, the extremist group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
The entry ban will encourage Islamic State supporters, al-Homsi wrote in text messages from Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib where he found refuge.
“This decision proves the militant group’s theory that the West, led by the United States, is an enemy of Muslims,” he wrote. “It’s an unfortunate decision.”
52 responses to “Syria refugees see dream of better life crushed by Trump ban”
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Let Norway take them then Egeland!
RAG D-RAT LOVING STARADVERTISER IS THE SADDEST OF SAD !!!
We are all God’s Children, whether you are black, yellow, white, Christian, Evangelical, Moslem, Hindu, Baptist, Budhist, Atheist, Agnostic, Democrat, Republican, Independent, from France, from Syria, from China, from Korea, from Iraq, from Turkey, from Iran, from Japan, from Samoa, heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, transgender, asexual, a man, a woman, a child. He created, loves and sustains us all.
Agree
Then why doesn’t God protect and care for them?
We are all refugees and immigrants, if you include yourself or your ancestors.
Agree
Corruption’s red herring.
Trump just turned the billions of Muslims around the world against Americans. They are going to view this ban as an attack on their religion. Our allies in the Muslim world will not work with us any longer. Iran has just banned all Americans from Iran. Soon, other Muslim nations will be banning Americans from their countries. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Morrocco, Turkey. Americans will become hated and vilified in those countries, and will be attacked, killed, kidnapped. American soldiers, intelligence agents will be banned from those countries. No Muslim countries will cooperate or work with us to defeat ISIS, AL Quaeda, and other Islamist terrorists. ISIS and other jihadist terrorists will gain more recruits to spread their hate and violence, and inflict more harm on US and the West
Iran just called the refugee ban, A gift to the terrorists
Give me a break, they already hate the USA. This is not new. We finally have a True Leader for the USA.
ISIS and AL Quaeda do not represent all the Muslims in the world. They are a minority of far right religious zealots and extremists, similar to some of the Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians in this country and the world. The majority of Christians do not have the same views of the far right extremist Christians, White Supremacists, White Nationalists, the cross burning and negros lynching of the KKK, the Neo-Nazis, and the Alt-Right (Alt-Wrong)
Seems like you might be the one full of hate like many other Thump supports.
Sounds like Obama’s warped way of “thinking” Vector. The last 8 years were devastating for the U.S. There’s a new sheriff in town.
If anyone is warped, it is you. You are inviting more divisiveness and hatred in the world
For the last eight years, Obama pulled us out of the Great Recession. He inherited from the last Republican President the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, huge government deficits resulting those wars, the sub-prime mortgage debacle, when people lost their homes, the lost of millions of jobs, the near bankruptcy of the auto industry, and the almost complete destruction of the global financial markets. Just hope and pray, that Trump and Administration does not lead us into more chaos like his predessesor, Republican George Bush
Alot of them are Christians
I doubt that very much. Muslims practice discrimination they will always hate anything non muslim and especially America ever since the criminal bin laden.
And you are giving them more reason to hate, despise, and do jihad against Americans and this country.
So it’s better to let the terrorists come and attack and kill us in our own country?
IRT Marcus, completely agree with your post. Any and all immigrant must swear to become a U.S. American citizen within 24 months before being allowed into the United States.
Good news. We have enough problems as it is with all the trash coming in from everywhere.
Like the Micro’s, Poly”s, Mela’s coming into Hawaii, no?
Once we can take care of your own VETS and the Homeless then maybe we can allow refugees into the USA.
Mr. Trump is a man of action and I’m grateful we finally have a real Leader for President !
I feel sorry for the good people there are but unfortunately the bad ones ruined it for them until the US can be more effective at screening people. It’s pretty bad when you see footage of ISIS fighters in Syria armed with US made M16’s thanks to our involvement of supporting rebels that we don’t even know who’s side they’re really on. Our country should never have meddled with trying to overthrow Assad to begin with. Obviously it’s been a failure in all aspects.
Thanks Trump!
America First!
Trump has plans to reduce your Social Security, your Medicare, Medicaid, and remove health care insurance of 30 million Americans. More seniors and kupuna, will become more impoverished, and unable to even pay their rent and get any health care. More of them will become homeless, living everywhere in all the cities. Trump has put a hiring freeze on all Federal employees. This is affecting the Veteran Affairs Department, which employs thousands of veterans. Trump promised to help veterans, this action is hurting veterans who need health care services
Are you referring to the present day VA which is already filled with corruption and incompetence still resulting in delays for veterans requiring treatment?
d_bull, the Veteran Administration employs more vets than the other Departments. Are you blaming those vets for the failures of the Department?
President Donald J. Trump doing what he promised.
#MAGA Embrace it!
If Hillary had gotten in instead of Trump she would have turned the US into another France or Britain. After 911 those lame brains let unlimited muslim refugees into their countries and look at all the terrorists mass killings happening there now. Thank God Bush was in office when 911 happened otherwise we would be belong to Al Quaida or the Islamic State by now.
Why are people shocked? He’s putting America and Americans first. We need to take care of our vets,kupuna and our children. We can’t continue to be the caretakers of the world.
Agree Titagirl.
I 3rd.
Get your act together and we’ll think about it again in maybe 100 years.
What we need to do is not create problems in countries like Syria and Lybia , like Obama and Hillary did, so that there are no refugees to begin with. And to the refugee supporters, this is only a 4 month ban, getting in can take 2 years so hold your britches…
Thank you Donald for thinking about America first. How good it is when you have a rich President that doesn’t need money and can’t be bought. For the refugee’s many are in the 14 to 35 year old age range, why don’t they stay back and fight for their country instead of running to America. Remember what out forefathers (14 to 35 year old) did for Independence to form the Great Country of America. Thank you President Trump for starting to make America great again.
What most of these refugees want is the free handouts and then learn to scam the system with the help of lawyers and the others who have preceded them.
Notice the pics of the refuges show 90% are young men. What happened to the women and children, left them behind.
Yes Mr.Milliband, America must stick to its core values of protecting its citizens from Islamic terrorists. The Arab governments and people must find away from stopping
their own kind from killing people all over the world. Then perhaps immigration laws will be more tolerant for them. So what if the Muslims sees Trumps ban on immigration
as attack on all Muslims. Obama’s strategy of trying not to upset the Muslim world certainly has not worked. Like lets be nice to them so they will be nice to us.
Too bad so sad. They can blame their radical Islamist counterparts for the ban. If they weren’t screaming “DEATH TO AMERICA” so loudly, maybe America’s borders would still be open, yes? DUH!
Once I had a student who was handicapped and his dream was going to Kamehameha School. I called and them and there was no way with his mental capabilities that he would make it. My friend a social worker said why should they take them if they mission is mainly develop college bound kids like the Iolani and Punahou. As soon as you accept the discipline, special ed type kids (which the Princess wanted) you go down the tubes like how the public schools have to deal with them. Well, I felt sad for this kid. But you got to draw the line with you purpose and mission and can’t go by emotion. It is good for US to help all people smitten by war and poverty but we have to draw the line somewhere or else in the future we won’t have a country left. Just take one area of financial debt.
Too all the snowflakes, look up the number of refugees the us has taken in and compare to European countries, and what country started this f’n mess? Go trump…
In playing to the fears of many Americans, Trump has weaseled his way into the White House. Think of Germany in the years leading up to the 2nd World War. Think of the little man with the mustache. They both rely on scapegoats — Jews back then and immigrants today. Hate is the rallying cry, and we see it in these forums. For Hawaii, this is hilahila. The world was already shrinking in the 1930s. Americans learned the hard way that we can’t shut out the world. What happens in Europe and Asia will impact the quality of our lives in the USA. Today, in the second decade of the 21st century, the world has shrunk to a village. Someone farts in the Middle East and we can smell it in Moiliili. We can run, but we can’t hide. Problems aren’t going away just because we close our eyes. As the old saying goes, if we’re not part of the solution, then we’re part of the problem. Aloha is the answer for the entire village, but it seems to be evaporating — at least in these Star-Advertiser forums.
Remember 9/11 dude
Little aloha in Hawaii. Look at all the homeless on the streets, and politicians squandering money then wanting to raise taxes. Aloha just a phase to say to tourist and print on license plates…
Leading up to World War II, the Jews and others were persecuted , arrested and sent to concentration camps where millions of innocent men, women and children were murdered in gas chambers. Many of those Jews and others who tried to seek refuge by coming to the United States were not allowed entry into our country prior to the war and during the war, denied entry by the isolationist then in our country. The Jews and others were left to perish in Nazi Germany, a country that hated and scapegoatEd Jews, Slavs, handicap, mentails ill, poltical dissidents, homosexuals, the infirm, Gypsies. By our denial of refugees we indirectly participated in the murder of millions of people.
Exactly why we need to wipe out Isis so these refugees can go home.
Pssst…
Go to Germany, France and Canada.
And… stay there !!!
Jesus, tended to the vulnerable, the persecuted, the least among them. He did not only single out Christians, in his time Christianity did not exist. HE loved and tended to all, even the sinners, like Mary Magdalene
Isolationism is alive and well in this forum.
Its temporary people. We need a more robust vetting system and the best way to implement it, is to halt ALL immigration from terrorist hot spots. President Trump announced this a long time ago, now the mostly fake news organizations like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC act like this is something new out of the blue. Get over yourselves already, your organizations are flailing hopelessly.