Revised Muslim Ban Excludes Grandparents and Fiancees From 'Close' Family

By Prachi Gupta  |  June 29, 2017 | 10:15pm
Politics

Days after the Supreme Court restored parts of the Muslim ban, the Trump administration has placed additional restrictions on visa applicants from six Muslim-majority countries.

The Supreme Court, which will hear the case in the fall, has permitted the ban for foreign nationals who cannot prove a “bona fide relationship with any person or entity in the United States.” On Wednesday, the State Department released its interpretation of what constitutes a “bona fide relationship,” and, per the AP, it doesn’t include “Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-laws and sisters-in-law, fiancees or other extended family members,” which “are not considered to be close relationships.”

Applicants requesting entry to America must prove that they have either a “parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling” in the country.

The restriction is the latest indignity to Muslim families in America, who continue to live in limbo as their families are torn apart. In one example, Al Jazeera reports that Syrian-American woman Rama Issa has had to postpone her wedding in America because the ban blocks many of her relatives from attending.

“It’s having a big toll on me psychologically,” Issa’s mother told Al Jazeera. “We’re delaying the wedding so that when the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling [later this year], maybe there’s some hope to get at least my cousins over for the wedding.”

“This administration is redefining what family is,” she said.

 
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