FRESNO (KMJ) — A Los Banos family separated due to a presidential executive order are now back together.
Arriving at San Francisco International Sunday night, Ahmed Ali and his 12 year old daughter Eman have officially made it into the United States.
But the journey took far longer than expected.
Ahmed Ali had flown to Yemen to collect her and intended to fly back at the end of January. It was after Eman was granted an immigrant visa.
Confirmation came the day before the executive order was signed, which blocked access to the United States for people from Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan.
It stopped Ahmed Ali from bringing Eman into the country, forcing a longer-than-expected stay in the African nation of Djibouti.
“There was a lot of kids, a lot of families, that got returned that day when I was there in Djibouti,” he says after landing at SFO. “It’s not fair for everybody.”
He adds that he is happy to be home with all his family, after the uncertainty surrounding the return to the United States.
“There are some people that are bad, that doesn’t make everybody bad.”
From the airport, the the entire family drove back home to Los Banos.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
