U.S. travel ban leaves far-flung Syrian family in limbo
Dahouk al-Omar has been hoping to be reunited with a son in Chicago. Now it's uncertain whether that will ever be possible.
Tired and aching with arthritis, Dahouk al-Omar lugs a purse stuffed with her personal documents to the catering kitchen where she works 12 hours a day. As an unregistered refugee in Lebanon, the 68-year-old never knows when she may need them to prove her identity or in case she gets stopped by the police.
Al-Omar spends half her salary on rent for the cramped apartment she shares with a son and two cats, an arrangement that she has hoped would be temporary. She has another son in Chicago who has been looking into ways of bringing her there.
But then came the election of Donald Trump and the travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries enacted days after his inauguration. The move ignited a months-long legal battle that plunged countless Syrian refugees into uncertainty and put plans to reunify families on hold.
