WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement after Fadi Kassar, a Milford resident from Syria, was reunited with his wife and two daughters, ages 5 and 8, on Thursday night after being separated from them for more than 2 years.
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Despite securing approval to travel to the United States, Kassar’s wife and daughters were stopped from boarding their flight last week as a result of President Trump’s executive order blocking all refugees and residents from seven majority-Muslim countries from coming to the United States. After working closely with the Kassar family, immigration lawyers, the U.S. State Department, and U.S. Customs and Borders, Murphy helped reunite the Kassar family.
Murphy said, “Tonight, the Kassar family gets to breathe a huge sigh of relief. My staff worked tirelessly with the family, their lawyer, and the delegation to make sure Fadi could see his wife and two little girls tonight. I know the Milford community is ready to welcome them with open arms. But there’s no sugar-coating this. It’s outrageous that Trump’s dangerous executive order forced them through unconscionable hoops to get here. Tonight’s good news for the Kassar family is only a dim light of hope—there are hundreds of other families out there crying themselves to sleep because they won’t be able to see their loved ones. I won’t stop fighting until Trump’s dangerous ban is repealed.”
Earlier this week, Murphy called on Congressional Republicans to block Trump’s dangerous executive order on refugees and immigrants and introduced legislation that would reverse it. He also penned an op-ed in the Huffington Post about the executive order entitled, “How Trump Just Made America Less Safe.”