'A hellish nightmare': how Trump's travel ban hit a Syrian refugee family
Naief and Nsreen Ghazoul are seated in a circle around their living room with their children, sipping hot chocolate on a dreary evening in January, beaming as their 18-month-old granddaughter, Shahed, entertains the family with the newest addition to her lexicon.
After coaxing in Arabic, she giggles and lets out a sheepish “I love you” in English.
It’s a soothing end to a hectic Monday, packed with shuttling the children to school, doctor’s appointments and other errands to prepare for the week. Such is the pace of life in America, the family says, with a palpable hint of relief.
Around this time last year, the Ghazouls, a refugee family from Syria, were far less certain about what the next day might hold.
Naief and Nsreen arrived in the US from Jordan on 19 January 2017, one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump, with two of their younger children, Hayah, 16, and Abdulrzzaq, 12. One of their elder daughters, Manyah, on immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries and an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria.
