Yemeni Diversity Visa Winners
US Transition Team, Senators, and Congressionals
Our nation was founded on the principle that all people are to be treated equally and have the right to freely practice the faith of their choice. On January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that impacted thousands of people around the world; the Muslim Ban. At first, it was struck down by federal judges, citing religious discrimination against Muslims. However, the ban was later passed with a justification that camouflaged the Islamophobic intent behind the policy. The seven countries that President Trump banned are all experiencing war, natural disasters, or humanitarian crises.
Over 2000 Diversity Visa winners from Yemen have been blocked from entering the US because of the Muslim Ban. YAMA (Yemeni American Merchant Association) has been working diligently with this case and exposing these stories since 2017 and we have yet to receive help. Here is the story of Majid, a Diversity Visa Lottery winner that has given up everything to come to America:
When my wife won the Diversity Visa lottery in May 2017, it was like our dreams came true. I invited 35 of my classmates and my wife invited her friends to our house for a huge party. We thought we would be leaving for America! We had been studying in Malaysia since 2010 for our bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and so we went to the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur for an interview. When we got there, the staff advised us not to complete the interview: we would be rejected because of Trump’s travel ban.
We still dream of immigrating to the United States to live in peace and use our education to work, but we are far from that. I finished my master’s degree in December 2018 but I couldn’t find a job there. We were getting upset about not having a future in Malaysia so we separated, my wife and kids went to Yemen, and I went to South Korea to find work. I have been in South Korea since February 2020, but honestly, I couldn’t find a job and now I’m stuck here because of COVID-19. All the borders have been closed.
I haven’t seen my wife and kids since May 2019, and I haven’t seen my mom or siblings since January 2015. I only have my wife to support me financially from Yemen but it’s really hard. We have a baby boy who is 5-years-old with really bad asthma. He has difficulty breathing and sometimes needs oxygen, and it’s hard to find that in any of the hospitals in Saunaa, our capital, because of the conflict.
Our house in Yemen was destroyed by airstrikes. We lived in the Nihm District where two parties have been at war since 2015 and most civilian homes and farms have been completely destroyed. We have no hope for our lives besides getting our Diversity Visas and moving to America.
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To:
US Transition Team, Senators, and Congressionals
From:
[Your Name]
Over 2,000 pending Diversity Visas from Yemenis have been postponed indefinitely since the Muslim Ban. Out of the 19 million people who applied, these 2,000 lucky winners thought this visa would change their lives. They would be able to escape their war-torn country and find refuge in the United States!
Many of these lottery winners sold their houses and cars, declined lucrative job offers, and spent their entire life savings to travel to Malaysia, Djibouti, and India for interviews at U.S. consulates, only to be left stranded there months later, unable to legally work and living off borrowed money.
We are asking United States Congressionals, Senators and the transition team to help process Diversity Visas for these stranded individuals so that they may begin building normal lives for themselves in the United States after being tricked and misled.