Meantime the executive order has affected countless New Yorkers including a Yemeni immigrant who thought he was on the verge of reuniting with his family. He spoke to our Lori Chung Tuesday night, and she reports on the latest.
These days Fathi Alhuthafi has to use Facetime to see his wife and three of their children — the family caught in limbo as the fate of president trump's travel ban is decided by the courts.
"We get so nervous for what's happening," Alhuthafi said. "I thought I was gonna be close to my family and now make us moving away."
Alhuthaifi's relatives fled to Saudi Arabia after war broke out in their native Yemen. The Harlem business owner says he's spent the past two years trying to secure a visa to bring them to New York and was nearing the end of that process.
"I was happy," he said "I was 'oh my God, almost my family gonna come, I'm alone and my son gonna see his mother and his brothers and we gonna be one unit one family and finally we gonna be there, almost any moment and then Mr. Trump comes with his Muslim ban."
While trump says his order barring citizens of Yemen and six other Muslim majority countries is meant to make the nation safer — Alhuthaifi is among those hope the order is struck down by the courts.
"I hope everything gonna be fine because we believe the justice of the United States that they gonna be on the right side," said Alhuthafi.
For the moment, Alhuthaifi is grateful to have one of his children with him and that his family is safe —eager to reunite soon.
"What's happening is mess up for all families," Alhuthafi said.
Alhuthafi is an American citizen, but he says with all that's gone on he's now afraid to travel to see his family for fear that he'll be detained.