President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27, which bans nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from traveling into the United States for 90 days, bans Syrian refugees indefinitely and suspends the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, according to The Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Several physicians who are citizens of one of the countries included in the travel ban who were traveling overseas attempted to return this past weekend and were affected by the executive order. A few were detained for hours before returning home while others were unable to board their flights back to the U.S.
On Jan. 28, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction that blocked travelers held at airports from being detained.
Here are five physicians who were affected by President Trump's travel ban.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list.
Suha Abushamma, MD. Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Abushamma, a Sudanese citizen and resident at Cleveland Clinic, had been traveling in the Middle East before returning to the United States on Saturday, according to Cleveland.com. She was denied entry into the United States after President Trump issued his executive order and spent 10 hours detained in New York before being sent back to the Middle East.
Tarek Alasil, MD. Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Hospital. Dr. Alasil, a Syrian native and an ophthalmology resident at Yale-New Haven Hospital, was on a medical mission trip in the Bahamas when President Trump issued the executive order. He attempted to return to the United States this past weekend, cutting his trip short, according to the CT Post. He was detained by custom agents although he has a green card and is a permanent U.S. resident. He has since been released and reunited with his family.
Sarwa Aldoori, MD. Advanced Health Care of Bakersfield (Calif.). Dr. Aldoori, who was born in Iraq, is a family physician. She traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and was on an eight-day religious pilgrimage when President Trump signed his executive order. She returned to the U.S. and was detained for nine hours at the airport before being released and reunited with her family, according to a report in The Grand Island Independent.
Dr. Kamal Fadlalla. Interfaith Medical Center (New York City). Dr. Fadlalla, a second-year resident in internal medicine at Interfaith Medical Center, attempted to end his trip to his home country of Sudan early after President Trump issued the executive order, according to ProPublica. He boarded a plan from Africa back to the U.S., but was then called off the plane and held at the airport for four hours before returning to his family's home in Sudan. He remains in Sudan and the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare union lawyers are working on his case.
Amir Heydari, MD. Centegra Health System (Crystal Lake, Ill.). Dr. Heydari is a bariatric surgeon with dual citizenship in Iran and the U.S. who has lived in Chicago for more than 40 years, according to the Chicago Tribune. He had been traveling in the Middle East to visit family when the executive order was signed. He returned to the U.S. and was held for questioning at O'Hare Airport before being released.
For questions or comments on this list, contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com.