August 09, 2019
A group of Iranian-American citizens and legal residents trying to bring their spouses and other relatives to join them in the United States has filed a federal lawsuit saying they are being unfairly blocked by the Trump Administration’s travel ban.
Fourteen families sued in federal court in Santa Ana, California, July 22, saying they have waited months for waivers, but the US government hasn’t issued them.
“They don’t have any other options, and so the only hope they have is the court. Otherwise, they could be in this indefinitely,” Curtis Morrison, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told NBC News in Los Angeles.
The Trump Administration said waivers would be granted on an individual basis to families affected by the ban on travel for citizens of five Muslim-majority countries. But advocates say few waivers have been issued, and there’s no formal system even to apply.
The ban affects Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and some government employees from Venezuela.
Some families have sued in California and New York to press for waivers that the Trump Administration said would be available so long as issuing them did not threaten national security.
Morrison filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year on behalf seven families trying to bring their relatives from Yemen and said all have since been approved.
He said he often receives frantic calls from plaintiffs who worry about rising tensions between Washington and Iran.
Plaintiff Farzan Nematollah, a US citizen who lives in Southern California, worries about how he will care for his Iranian wife if conditions worsen between the countries and wants the US government to move quickly on a waiver so the couple can start a family, the lawsuit said.
Plaintiff Shamim Darchini, an American citizen who will soon start a graduate program in San Diego, has been married to her Iranian husband for four years. He was interviewed by a consular officer two years ago and, since then, they have been waiting.
Darchini visits him on vacation, but she said the prolonged separation has left her sleepless and stressed. She has tried asking consular officials, pressed for action on social media and enlisted help from her senator’s office, but said she sees no end in sight.
“It is a nightmare,” she said. “I really don’t know what I have to do.”