Yemeni Student is Among Thousands to Win US Visa, Only to Have It Effectively Denied by Travel Ban

Thousands of Yemenis and other nationals from countries covered by Trump’s travel ban are currently stranded in different parts of the world as the State Department refuses to honor the fact that they won a U.S. government immigration lottery. Many of the winners have already sold their homes and cars, left their jobs and even relocated in anticipation of their move to the United States. Their eligibility to receive green cards under the program will end only three days after the travel ban is slated to expire on September 27, meaning their applications will likely not be processed in time, which lawyers say operates as an effective ban. We are joined by Hamed Sufyan Almaqrami, 29-year-old Yemeni Ph.D. student in applied linguistics who was awarded a diversity visa in 2016. Due to Trump’s travel ban, he is now stranded in India. We also speak with his attorney, Yolanda Rondon of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Stephen Pattison, a U.S. immigration attorney who spent nearly three decades with the State Department.