BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A man who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq was reunited with his parents in Bismarck shortly after a federal judge temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s refugee ban.
Zaid Alazzawi arrived from Iraq in 2014, but his parents’ plans to finally join him were initially canceled when Trump’s order went into effect. Alazzawi hadn’t seen his parents, who had fled to Jordan because of the turmoil in their home country, in four years, The Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/2lnMTYx ) reported.
His parents, Saniya and Hasam Alazzawi, arrived at Bismarck Airport on Tuesday, a week after they were first scheduled to arrive. Through an Arabic interpreter, the couple said they were “very happy” to see their son. Saniya Alazzawi looked at her son’s face and said: “He got older.”
Turdukan Tostokova, site supervisor at Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, said she received notice early Monday that the family would be reunited. She said more refugees who were affected by the ban are scheduled to come later this week and next week.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that placed a 90-day ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. The order also suspended the refugee program for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely. A federal judge in Seattle issued a restraining order halting the ban nationwide on Friday.
Hasam Alazzawi said he and his wife weren’t concerned with Trump’s ban.
“We know it’s temporary, the decision,” he through a translator.
The couple, who sold all of their belongings in Jordan in hopes of getting a new apartment in Bismarck, planned to celebrate reuniting with their son and new daughter-in-law.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com
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