State of Washington, et al v. Donald J. Trump, et al

Filing 91

Submitted (ECF) Amicus brief for review and filed Motion to become amicus curiae. Submitted by American Immigration Council, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Human Rights First, KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), and Tahirih Justice Center. Date of service: 02/06/2017. [10304762] [17-35105]--[COURT UPDATE: Attached exhibits (originally submitted in entry [92]), resent notice. 02/07/2017 by LA] (Mincer, Jonathan) [Entered: 02/06/2017 11:59 PM]

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EXHIBIT E 1 Honorable James L. Robart 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Juweiya Abdiaziz ALI; A.F.A., a minor; Reema Case No.: 2:17-cv-00135-JLR Khaled DAHMAN; G.E., a minor; Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed ALI; E.A., a minor; on behalf of themselves as individuals and on DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMED behalf of others similarly situated, AHMED ALI IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS Plaintiffs-Petitioners, v. Donald TRUMP, President of the United States of America; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE; Tom SHANNON, Acting Secretary of State; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; John F. KELLY, Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES; Lori SCIALABBA, Acting Director of USCIS; OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE; Michael DEMPSEY, Acting Director of National Intelligence, 23 Defendants-Respondents. 24 25 26 27 28 DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2:17-cv-00135-JLR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT -0 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 206-957-8611 1 I, Ahmed Mohammad Ahmed ALI, declare under penalty of perjury as follows: 2 1. I was born on May 1, 1978 in Alshear, Ibb, Yemen. I currently reside at 724 Gamay 3 Court, Los Banos, CA, 93635. I make this declaration in support of a temporary restraining order 4 to help effectuate my daughter, E.A.’s entry to the United States. 5 2. I am married to a U.S. citizen and have 2 U.S. citizen children and one child with a valid 6 immigrant visa, but who has been denied the ability to board a plane due to the January 27, 2017 7 executive order, merely because she is a citizen of Yemen. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 3. My wife and I have been trying for so many years to have our whole immediate family united safely in the United States. My wife Intikhab Mohamed Saleh (“Intikhab”) and I own a home in Los Banos, California where we live with our two U.S. citizen children, and where we have been hoping that our daughter E.A. would also be residing. We have a monthly mortgage payment of approximately $950. My wife has been helping to raise our daughters. We are a very close family. Our family is Muslim. 4. I am the sole breadwinner for my family of five. I am the manager at the Buy N Save Market in Los Banos that is in a local shopping market and part-owner of Los Amigos. I have 17 worked at Buy N Save since 2004. I work long hours so that I can provide for my family. I make 18 approximately $35,000 a year. I pay my U.S. taxes. 19 5. 20 within one year of our marriage – on February 24, 2002. Both my wife Intikhab and my daughter 21 S.A.M.A. are U.S. citizens. 22 6. 23 2004, and became a lawful permanent resident that date, based on a visa petition my U.S. citizen 24 wife had filed on my behalf. I became a naturalized U.S. citizen on July 19, 2010. 25 7. 26 received news that Intikhab’s mother had fallen ill and required caretaking assistance. As a 27 result, Intikhab decided she would temporarily return to Yemen (with S.A.M.A.) to care for her 28 mother. However, the length of Intikhab’s trip increased because my mother-in-law’s health I married my wife, Intikhab on May 3, 2001. My eldest daughter, S.A.M.A. was born I first entered the United States with my wife and daughter S.A.M.A. on January 27, Approximately 6 months after my family and I entered the United States in 2004, we DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2:17-cv-00135-JLR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT -1 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 206-957-8611 1 2 improved slowly. By the time Intikhab left for Yemen, she was already pregnant with my second daughter, E.A.A. E.A.A. was born while my wife was still in Yemen, on December 3, 2004 3 8. I remained in the United States where I was working to financially support the family. 4 When my wife left for Yemen, we planned for her to return to the United States as soon as her 5 mother’s health improved. At no point did we intend for my wife to live in Yemen permanently. 6 With my second child on the way, I knew it was best that I remain in the United States, although 7 I knew the separation would be difficult. 8 9. When I learned that my mother-in-law’s health had improved to the point that she no 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 longer required my wife’s caretaking assistance, I immediately began making arrangements for my family to join me in the United States. By 2010, I had saved enough money to cover the travel expenses for my entire family (Intikhab, S.A.M.A., and E.A.A.). 10. Around 2010, when my wife and daughters was considering joining me in the United States, we thought our daughter E.A.A. was a U.S. citizen since both me and my wife were citizens. However, we didn’t know the technicality of the law, and only later learned that in fact she was not a U.S. citizen because my wife had not physically resided in the United States for 5 years before E.A.A.’s birth. Thus, we learned we needed to have her go through the immigrant 18 visa consular process. 19 11. 20 my daughter E.A.A. with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) along 21 with the requisite $420 filing fee. USCIS approved the immediate relative I-130 petition for 22 E.A.A. on June 10, 2013. 23 12. 24 Immigrant Visa Electronic Application. On August 12, 2014, counsel for E.A.A. emailed the 25 National Visa Center all of the civil documents. 26 13. 27 in Yemen so that they travel to the United States together. However, while the immigrant visa 28 application was pending, the situation in Yemen deteriorated and became increasingly Thus, on April 25, 2011, I filed a family-based immigrant visa petition (Form I-130) for On August 11, 2014, E.A.A., with the assistance of counsel, filed the Form DS-260, Meanwhile, my wife had continued to stay with our older daughter S.A.M.A. and E.A.A. DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2:17-cv-00135-JLR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT -2 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 206-957-8611 1 2 dangerous. Frustrated that the immigrant visa process was taking so long, and worried about the security situation in Yemen, my wife and I made the difficult decision sometime in 2013 that she 3 and S.A.M.A. would come to the United States, and E.A.A. would remain in Sana’a with my 4 parents, her grandparents. We were hopeful the immigrant visa would be approved soon. 5 6 7 14. My wife and I have had another daughter, S., who was born on February 4, 2015 in the United States and is a U.S. citizen. 8 15. Meanwhile, the consular services in Yemen shut down so we learned the immigrant visa 9 interview would be scheduled at a different consulate. Finally, on December 15, 2016, the 10 National Visa Center sent an email that an immigrant visa interview was scheduled for January 11 22, 2017. 12 16. 13 uncle helped her to travel by bus for over fifteen hours through a very dangerous part of Yemen, 14 15 16 17 18 I then made arrangements for my daughter to be able to appear at this interview. E.A.A.’s and then took a flight from Aden, Yemen to Jordan. I meanwhile flew from the United States to Jordan to meet my daughter. We then obtained a visitor visa for my daughter to travel from Jordan to Djibouti. My Djibouti visa and my daughter’s Djibouti visa were issued on January 15, 2017 and are valid for one entry for 14 days. We then flew from Jordan to Djibouti on January 17, 2017. 19 20 21 17. We arrived in Djibouti with enough time that my daughter could get her medical examination that was required for the immigrant visa interview. 22 18. On January 22, 2017, I accompanied my daughter E.A.A. to the immigrant visa interview 23 at the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti, and we were notified that the immigrant visa was approved. We 24 were required to give the Embassy E.A.A.’s passport so that the visa could be issued. We were 25 instructed to check a website to see when visa would be ready to pick up. 26 19. 27 pick up the visa at the next available time that was permissible, which was on Thursday, January 28 26, 2017. The visa is valid until July 21, 2017. We checked the website and learned the visa was issued on January 25, 2017, and went to DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2:17-cv-00135-JLR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT -3 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 206-957-8611 1 2 20. 3 a flight that departed on Friday, January 27, 2017, but flight flew through Canada, and the airline 4 called and said we would have to cancel the flight because my daughter didn’t have a visa to 5 Canada. We therefore quickly booked the next flight we could, which left on Saturday, January 6 28, 2017. 7 8 9 10 21. We quickly attempted to make flight arrangements to the United States. We first arranged Our Ethiopian Airlines flight was scheduled to depart Djibouti on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 7:00 pm local time (which was 6am pacific time). The flight had multiple layovers, but final destination was San Francisco International Airport. However, after we had gone through security and were getting ready to board our flight, we were told by airline officials that my 11 daughter was not permitted board the flight due to the U.S President’s Executive Order that was 12 issued on January 27, 2017. I immediately called my attorney to inform her of the situation. 13 14 22. On January 28, 2017, my attorney sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti requesting 15 that my daughter E.A.A. be issued a travel letter because she should qualify for a case-by-case 16 exemption to the executive order because it would in the national interest to permit her to come 17 to the United States with our family. She spoke to a consular officer in Djibouti on January 30, 18 2017, but was informed that the embassy did not have guidance yet on how the waivers to the 19 executive action would be reviewed or issued. 20 21 22 23 23. We have thus been extending our stay at a hotel in Djibouti, which is quite expensive. We had been paying approximately $115 a night, although recently moved to a smaller and more affordable room for $80 a night. 24 24. 25 come to the United States. But now, I do not know when I will be able to return to the United 26 States and do not know when I will be able to earn money for my family. 27 25. I was able to take a leave of absence from my work to travel to help my daughter E.A.A. The uncertainty of our situation is very stressful. We have no idea when we will be able 28 DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2:17-cv-00135-JLR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT -4 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 206-957-8611 to travel to the United States. I obviously cannot leave rny 12-year-old daughter alone. We are 2 currently temporarily staying Djibouti, where we have no family or friends, and it is very 3 expensive stay. I arn worried because both my visa and my daughter' s visa· for Djibouti have ' exp ired. But we have nowhere else to go. We don ' t want to return to Yemen because it is 5 6 7 extraordinarily dangerous, and a very long journey. All we want is for our family to be united in our horne in the United States. 8 9 10 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is true and co rrect to the best of my information , knowledge, belief. II 12 Executed on this I st day of Febniary, 2017, in Djibouti, Djibouti. 13 ~11!1 ( 14 Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Ali 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 ... 27 DECLARATION OF AHMED MOHAMMAD AHMED ALI Case No. 2: 17-cv-00 135-J LR NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJ ECT -5 6 15 Second Ave.. Ste. 400 Seatt le, WA 98104 206-957-8611

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