Charlotte-bound Iraqi who helped U.S. military caught in travel ban

Refugees in or bound for Charlotte have had their lives disrupted in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting immigration to the United States from some Muslim-majority countries.

Among them is Hameed Khalid Darweesh, one of two Iraqi nationals who were detained at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York Friday night. Darweesh, 53, a former interpreter for the U.S. military, was on his way to settle in Charlotte with his family.

He and the second Iraqi are now at the center of the legal challenge of Trump’s controversial executive order.

The lawsuit – filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Refugee Assistance Project, the National Immigration Law Center and a Yale Law School legal clinic – argues that detaining the men violates their Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Court papers say both men have valid visas and for 10 years Darweesh worked various contract positions for the U.S. government, which has made him a target of anti-American militias in Iraq. The lawsuit said Darweesh was an interpreter for the U.S. military in 2003 and 2004 and was threatened twice because of that work.

In response to the suit, a New York judge issued an order blocking the federal government from deporting Darweesh and the other Iraqi. They were released from detention. Darweesh’s wife and three children had not been detained.

Reportedly 100 to 200 travelers from Muslim-majority countries are being held at various airports around the U.S. as a result of Trump’s order, which was billed as an anti-terrorism measure.

In Charlotte, Marsha Hirsch, director of the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency, told the Observer that she met Saturday with Imam Atif Chaudry, head clergyman for the Islamic Society of Greater Charlotte, to talk about finding housing and other assistance for Darweesh and his family in Charlotte.

Hirsch said she hasn’t met Darweesh yet, but once he arrives and she confirms that he has a valid “special immigrant visa,” she said he can be enrolled in the refugee agency’s database and begin receiving “standard case management,” which includes help finding a job and an apartment and enrolling in social services, such as food stamps and Medicaid.

Hirsch said the “special immigrant visa” program is for people from Iraq and Afghanistan who supported U.S. troops as interpreters during the wars. Because of their efforts, their lives have been threatened in Iraq, Hirsch said, and the U.S. government created the special visa for their protection.

“There are people living here in Charlotte that are visa holders of that nature,” Hirsch said.

Iraqi wife in limbo

Two Iraqi brothers who provided interpretation services for U.S. servicemen have been living on Charlotte’s east side for several years, according to Amy Lefkof, a lawyer who met the men when she taught English as a second language as a volunteer at Central Piedmont Community College.

One of the brothers is awaiting the arrival of his Iraqi wife and is now worried she won’t be able to join him in Charlotte.

The man, 32, who asked to be identified only as Omar, arrived in Charlotte in 2012 and went back to Iraq to get married in 2015. Since then, his wife has been going through the visa application process. He said they have completed the paperwork and spent at least $2,000 in fees. Since August, she has been awaiting the call for her final interview at the U.S. Embassy.

Because of Trump’s executive order, he said, “I don’t know what they’re going to do and what is going to happen. I don’t want money from the government. I have work. I have job. I just want her to come over here.”

Omar said he worked as an English translator for U.S. troops in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, in 2009. His brother did similar work in Baghdad. He said friends and neighbors know about this work, and they would be in danger if they returned to Iraq. “That’s why I have come over here,” Omar said. “We cannot go back.”

Omar, who lives with his brother’s family, said he plans to apply for U.S. citizenship this year. The brothers have a cousin who lives in Mooresville and was also an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq.

Lefkof, who has become friends with Omar’s family, said she objected to the scope of Trump’s executive order: “This man and his brother risked their lives to be translators for our troops. … There should at least be an exception for translators and their families if we are ever going to have local translators volunteer to help our troops again.”

Syrian family stopped

Protests over Trump’s new executive order erupted at airports nationwide, including Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where more than 100 people carried signs and chanted Sunday afternoon.

Among the protesters was Mayada Idlibi, who works with refugees for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and carried a sign that read: “Immigrants, Refugees Are Welcome Here!”

She was expecting to welcome a Syrian family to Charlotte Monday night. The family of three – a couple and their child – had been scheduled to board a Chicago-bound plane from Amman in Jordan, then take a second flight to Charlotte.

“But they were informed (Saturday) that there was no way to get in the States with this situation,” Idlibi said. “So sad.”

Idlibi, a Syrian native who has been in Charlotte for 20 years, said an apartment had already been rented for the family.

“They’d escaped from Syria to Jordan. Then they’d gone through a year and a half long process – fingerprinting to background checks,” Idlibi said. “Everything was set, everything was ready.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2017 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Charlotte-bound Iraqi who helped U.S. military caught in travel ban."