A Chicago-area doctor trying to returning to the United States after traveling to the United Arab Emirates to get married will be allowed to return to the city, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Dr. Amer Al Homssi, 24, a resident in internal medicine at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn on a J-1 visa was on a plane headed for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Wednesday evening after being stranded abroad.
"I’m really happy to be here and I would like to thank everyone -- my family, friends, colleagues, residents and program, hospital, lawyer and everyone who made it possible -- all the support I got all over the media, if it weren’t for you guys I wouldn’t be here," Homssi said in a video message as he prepared to board his flight. "Thank you so much."
Homssi holds citizenship in both Syria and the United Arab Emirates and he was married on Jan. 23 in the UAE. He attempted to return to his residency from Abu Dhabi International Airport to O’Hare Airport on Sunday, his attorneys say, but was stopped by U.S. security who said his Visa was canceled.
"This is a pretty serious issue," said his attorney Thomas Durkin. "He's a doctor. This isn't... it wasn't like he was coming to ride the Staten Island ferry."
Durkin said the government agreed that Trump's executive order to restrict travel from several countries should not include those with green cards or special visas, like the one Homssi had.
"There's language in there that says he has to pass inspection," Durkin said. "What that means is they want to make sure nothing happened between the time he left for the airport this afternoon and tonight."
Had the resident in internal medicine been banned from coming back to the U.S., it would have had "horrible serious consequences" for his career as well as his patients, his attorneys said.
A lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday on Homssi's behalf.
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The suit refered to the plaintiff as "collateral damage" of Trump's recent travel order, naming Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Secretary John Kelly as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its acting Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan as defendants.
Trump’s executive order, signed Friday, temporarily bars travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries as well as refugees across the globe—including Syria. Lawyers for Homssi say it is “unmistakably clear” that Trump’s executive order targets Muslims.
Trump in a statement Sunday said the order was “not about religion” but keeping the country safe from terrorists. The president said the seven countries on the travel ban list were previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror.
“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Trump said.
Kelly echoed Trump’s stance on the executive order Tuesday at a news conference.
"This is not, I repeat, not a ban on Muslims," he said.
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Homssi's attorneys said the state department was still finalizing documents in the case Wednesday evening, but U.S. Customs has agreed to let the doctor back into Chicago when he lands Thursday morning at O'Hare.
