{"id":61680,"date":"2024-05-29T20:09:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T20:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/29\/americans-raced-to-get-their-families-out-of-gaza-then-the-border-slammed-shut\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T20:09:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T20:09:04","slug":"americans-raced-to-get-their-families-out-of-gaza-then-the-border-slammed-shut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/29\/americans-raced-to-get-their-families-out-of-gaza-then-the-border-slammed-shut\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Raced to Get Their Families Out of Gaza. Then the Border Slammed Shut."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/29\/multimedia\/29dc-gaza-escape-NEW-01-zhcg\/29dc-gaza-escape-NEW-01-zhcg-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Americans Raced to Get Their Families Out of Gaza. Then the Border Slammed Shut.\" title=\"Americans Raced to Get Their Families Out of Gaza. Then the Border Slammed Shut.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ghada Redwan, a 48-year-old pharmacist in Houston, has been trying to get her parents out of Gaza for months. Their bags, packed and ready to go, have been sitting by their door in Rafah, the city where Israel is now <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/29\/world\/israel-gaza-war-hamas-rafah\" title=\"\">conducting a military offensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Redwan has hit roadblocks at every turn. And like other Palestinian Americans desperate to get their relatives to safety, she has described a confounding bureaucratic maze involving the State Department, the governments of Israel and Egypt, politicians, advocacy groups, lawyers and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The closure this month of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt \u2014 the only way out for civilians \u2014 has thrown an already complicated system into disarray, leading to calls for the United States to make a more forceful effort to evacuate the relatives of American citizens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou feel like there\u2019s nothing you can do,\u201d Ms. Redwan said in an interview. \u201cYou live comfortably, you have money, you\u2019re a U.S. citizen and your parents are suffering and there\u2019s nothing you can do for them. It is just insane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Redwan last spoke to her mother on Monday morning, one day after an Israeli strike that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/27\/world\/middleeast\/israel-rafah-civilian-deaths.html\" title=\"\">killed dozens of Palestinians<\/a> in a camp for displaced people in Rafah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is no safe place,\u201d her mother told her. \u201cJust pray for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the start of the war seven months ago, more than 1,800 American citizens and their families have left Gaza with the assistance of the State Department, U.S. officials say. They are only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of Gazans desperate to leave as the already dire conditions there deteriorate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And while the vast majority of Gazans have no way to escape, the State Department told Americans late last year that they could reach out to the department for help getting their immediate family members \u2014 even those who are not American citizens \u2014 onto the border crossing list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The criteria are strict: Only parents, spouses and unmarried, under-21 children of American citizens are eligible for the assistance. The United States gathers the names and provides them to Israeli and Egyptian authorities, who control the border, and ask that they be allowed to cross.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And then they wait. Families check a Facebook page run by the authorities in Gaza, which gets updated as people are approved to cross into Egypt. If their name appears, they are advised to go immediately to a border crossing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But that is by no means the end of the story. Often, a person\u2019s name never makes it onto the list being kept at the border, and they are turned away. (And with the Rafah crossing closed since May 7, the Facebook page has not been updated in more than two weeks.) For those who do cross over, they can begin the process of getting a green card and ultimately reuniting with family in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is difficult to know how long that process will take. Alicia Nieves, a legal advocate with the Arab American Civil Rights League, said she had a client who escaped Gaza and was able to get a visa to the United States within a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But some people wait much longer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEvery part of this process has been baffling to me,\u201d said Sammy Nabulsi, a lawyer in Massachusetts who has helped families navigate the system to leave Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Immigrant advocates and some lawmakers have pushed for an overhaul of U.S. assistance, saying the system established after the Russian invasion of Ukraine was far more generous. That system has allowed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to enter the United States, regardless of their familial ties, as long as they have a financial sponsor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cGiven the conditions in Rafah, the lack of aid getting through, these people are unfortunately in the shadow of death. We need to do right by our own citizens, our country, and expand the criteria to get more relatives out and find a path to the U.S.,\u201d Nabulsi said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Democratic senators including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois have also called for expanding the categories of people the U.S. government is willing to help to include siblings, children of siblings and grandchildren, and speeding up processing of applications for humanitarian parole, which allows temporary entry into the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A White House spokesperson said that the government was \u201cconstantly evaluating policy proposals to further support Palestinians who are family members of American citizens and may want to join them\u201d in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Government officials have discussed the idea of allowing some Palestinians in Egypt to enter the United States through the refugee program, as well as considering humanitarian parole, according to three sources with knowledge of the conversations. They asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Republicans in Congress have opposed the idea of allowing refugees from Gaza into the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWith more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,\u201d a group of Republican senators <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/gazan_refugees_letter.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in a letter<\/a> to President Biden earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the war grinds on, Palestinian Americans in the United States feel powerless to help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Abdalwahab Hlayel, a 43-year-old businessman in Minnesota, said he worries constantly about his father, stepmother and other family members in Gaza, but he cannot bear to speak to them while their fate is in limbo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI hate calling them because every time I call they are expecting good news from me,\u201d said Mr. Hlayel, who submitted their names to the State Department and has had the office of Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, press his family\u2019s case. But the names of his father, who is 73 and diabetic, and his stepmother have never appeared on the Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have nothing to tell them,\u201d Mr. Hlayel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He isn\u2019t even sure his father would leave Gaza, because it would mean leaving behind two of his children, ages 17 and 21, who do not fit the criteria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So now, Mr. Hlayel spends hours clutching his phone, scanning for updates and tracking the latest news from a tiny enclave where more than 34,000 people have been killed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Smith said she had called the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department for help on the Hlayel family\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur broken immigration system is not equipped to deal with urgent response situations, and Minnesotans like Abdalwahab are running into red tape and bureaucracy at a moment when processing times mean life or death,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, has been advocating on behalf of the parents of Rasheda Alfaiomy, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen who lives in Austin. They are trapped in Gaza, but there is only so much that can be done while the Rafah crossing is closed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are the only hope they have,\u201d said Ms. Alfaiomy, who has more than a dozen relatives in Gaza, in addition to her parents. She said she regularly receives videos of her family members in refugee camps in Gaza begging for help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey are crying on the phone,\u201d she said. \u201cThe kids are crying. Adults are crying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/29\/us\/politics\/gaza-relatives-escape.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ghada Redwan, a 48-year-old pharmacist in Houston, has been trying to get her parents out of Gaza for months. Their bags, packed and ready to go, have been sitting by their door in Rafah, the city where Israel is now conducting a military offensive. But Ms. Redwan has hit roadblocks at every turn. And like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/29\/multimedia\/29dc-gaza-escape-NEW-01-zhcg\/29dc-gaza-escape-NEW-01-zhcg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3392,196,11227,43,6854,15012,5366],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61682,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680\/revisions\/61682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}