Trump administration’s journey ban roils Yemeni group in Metro Detroit

More than three months after the Trump administration’s second journey ban on Yemen, officers within the Metro Detroit Yemeni group mentioned it’s discriminatory, spreading concern and sparking logistical issues for these with ties to the area.

The measure introduced on June 5 took impact 4 days later and targets 12 different nations which are primarily African, Middle Eastern and majority-Muslim.

“It has been a constant, constant, constant suffering all these years,” mentioned Abdulhakem Alsadah, a member of the Dearborn-based National Association of Yemeni Americans. “And now we are faced with a new challenge, which is the ban.”

Metro Detroit activists and group members mentioned they’re reminded of the Trump administration’s first journey ban in 2017, also known as “the Muslim ban,” and that the impacts within the Yemeni group are already evident. They additionally imagine Trump’s bans have been selective within the identities they aim.

The ban is about “profiling and targeting certain people based on their ethnicity and their faith and the color of their skin,” mentioned U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.

The Trump administration contends the measure is important.

“To protect the national security and national interests of the United States and the American people, the President issued a proclamation on June 4, 2025,” a State Department spokesperson mentioned in an e-mail to The Detroit News.

“The proclamation suspends or limits entry to the United States and issuance of U.S. visas to foreign nationals from specified countries due to those countries’ inadequate vetting and security screening processes, information-sharing practices, exploitation of our visa system and failure to accept the return of removed nationals, and identity management protocols, subject to certain categorical exceptions and case-by-case waivers.”

Besides Yemen, the proclamation is directed at Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.

Trump has mentioned nationals of nations included within the ban pose “terrorism-related” and “public-safety” dangers, in addition to dangers of overstaying their visas.

‘Devastating’

Metro Detroit incorporates the biggest focus of Arabs outdoors the Middle East. Tlaib, who represents Michigan’s twelfth Congressional District, together with Detroit, Dearborn and Southfield, mentioned the biggest rising variety of immigrants in her district are from Yemen.

She referred to the 2025 order, which absolutely restricts the entry of people from Yemen, because the “racist travel ban” and known as it “devastating” to households who’ve been placing time and sources into purposes.

While the ban would not apply to inexperienced card holders or these with legitimate visas, and folks with sure household petitions can transfer ahead with their software, many instances have been put in administrative evaluation because the final presidential administration and residents fear that circumstances may worsen, Tlaib mentioned.

“Many of our communities haven’t waited, like months or weeks, but we’re talking about years of trying to bring their families to reunite with their families because of the humanitarian crisis, one of the worst in our history, in our world, it’s in Yemen,” Tlaib mentioned. “People are still suffering from access to food, medical needs … and I want to reiterate, these are family petitions.”

After years of warfare, Yemen stays one of many world’s worst humanitarian crises, the United Nations Population Fund reported in April. Around 19.5 million individuals, which is greater than half of the nation’s inhabitants, require some type of humanitarian help. The nation additionally faces one of many world’s most extreme starvation crises, with greater than half of the inhabitants struggling to entry meals.

Airstrikes on vital civilian infrastructure in Yemen, together with the Sana’a International Airport and the Hodeidah Port, have additional exacerbated the humanitarian disaster and skill of support to be delivered, the International Rescue Committee mentioned.

On Tuesday, Israel launched airstrikes on Hodeida as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels activated air defenses. The Israeli army mentioned in an replace that it struck “military infrastructure” utilized by the Houthis at Hodeida port. A Houthi spokesman mentioned Houthi air defenses “caused great confusion” for Israeli plane and compelled some fight formations to go away Yemeni airspace earlier than finishing up the assaults, thwarting Israel’s incursion deep into Yemen.

The variety of Yemeni immigrants to Michigan has been rising, mentioned Alsadah, whose service group gives social, instructional and immigration companies to the group. Coupled with the unfolding of a battle between the U.S., Israel and Houthi militia group that has already left lots of of civilians lifeless since 2024, the scramble to flee, particularly for these with family dwelling within the U.S., is extra dire, Alsadah mentioned.

“The fact of the matter is: every time there is a ban, it really affects the whole entire process,” Alsadah mentioned, including that immigration officers “scrutinize documentation, they scrutinize information. They delay the process for legal migration, for family reunification, and then the process takes twice as much, three times as much as it would in normal circumstances.”

Wali Altahif, a regional Yemeni activist, mentioned the visa approval course of for Yemenis takes for much longer than it does for others, successfully delaying household reunification for years. His spouse moved to the U.S. in 2024 after ready 5 years for her visa to be accredited.

Altahif mentioned he and his spouse traveled to the Yemeni embassy in Egypt twice, solely to be transferred to Djibouti. “It was a nightmare,” he mentioned.

“In many aspects, I mean, you are separating families. You are separating spouses. You are separating children from their parents, and that leads to a lot of stress, a lot of trauma, a lot of psychological issues and a lot of economic hardship,” Altahif mentioned. “Your whole life is on hold waiting for your loved one to be reunited.”

Ahead of the ban, the Trump administration mentioned the purpose is to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

Federal officials told The Detroit News the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general, secretary of Homeland Security, and director of national intelligence, “determined that a number of countries were deficient with regard to screening and vetting information and that the unrestricted entry of its nationals would be detrimental to U.S. national interests.”

Officials said Trump “determined that the unrestricted entry of nationals from the specified countries would be detrimental to the interests of the United States” after evaluating a report submitted by the Secretary of State.

The department’s statement added: “The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process.”

In June, the State Department instructed U.S. embassies and consulates not to revoke visas previously issued to people from the countries listed in the ban.

The ban does not affect the ability of U.S. citizens to travel to and from Yemen, Tlaib said, but families should still be prepared for “long waits, interviews and an interrogation and illegal detainments.” Legal permanent residents should still speak to an attorney before they travel.

Many also said it is important to consider that there is no American embassy in Yemen, meaning any Yemeni who wants to do business with the American embassy will have to travel at least hundreds of miles to a different country.

Families will typically spend months there during the immigration process and pay out of pocket for basic necessities, such as housing, food and travel, and take a leave of absence from their jobs, Alsadah said.

“Now that means if you want to bring your spouse with your two, three, four or five kids … you need to take your spouse to go to Djibouti, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey or Malaysia,” Alsadah said. “All these countries are receiving thousands of Yemenis just to go do business with the American embassy because there is no consulate.”

Political spotlight

Some in the Yemeni-American community said they believe they have been forsaken by both major political parties in the U.S. as the situation unfolds.

In Hamtramck, a city with large Yemeni and Muslim populations, Trump visited less than a month before the 2024 presidential election and obtained the endorsement of the city’s mayor, Amer Ghalib, and several other community and religious leaders. Ghalib announced that it was Trump’s goal “to end the chaos in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

Trump visited Dearborn, considered the nation’s largest majority-Arab American city, days before the election and told crowds at one point: “You’re going to have peace in the Middle East.”

“The truth is, a small minority of Yemeni Americans voted for Trump. The media made more noise about it than actually was true,” Alsadah said. “It should not be held against the community. There is no cohesive voting block in the Arab community. That’s a myth.”

Altahif referenced the war in Yemen, saying he believes the actions of Houthi rebels in Yemen are being used as collective punishment against civilians and those looking to travel to the U.S.

The Houthis, a militia the U.S. considers to be Iran-backed that controls much of Yemen, since November 2023 have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that they say are tied to Israel as support for Palestinians in Gaza. The waterway facilitates the transfer of $1 trillion in goods annually, along with 30% of the world’s container traffic, and the Houthis’ actions have significantly disrupted international shipping and caused increased costs and delays.

The attacks are represented as a challenge to what the U.S. has defined as “a core national interest,” and on March 15, Trump launched a army marketing campaign towards the Houthis that then formally ended on May 6, when he introduced a truce.

“The group turned the scapegoat for the unique battle in Yemen. Yemeni Americans are paying the worth for it,” Altahif mentioned.

Staff Writer Charles E. Ramirez and The Associated Press contributed.