For Yemeni-Americans, Trump's travel bans cause worry and uncertainty

A Michigan imam who presided over a prayer service marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha warned that president Donald Trump’s new travel ban could backfire on the Republican Party.

Imam Imran Salha spoke to The Associated Press after leading the Eid service Friday at the Islamic Center of Detroit, a mosque with a significant number of Yemeni American worshippers.

The travel ban announced Wednesday by the White House applies to citizens of Yemen and 11 other nations, which include Haiti, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.

“We saw the price that the Democratic Party had to pay for undermining the Palestinian voice. There are many people that avoided voting altogether just because of this country's policies toward Gaza,” Salha told AP, referring to Trump in November becoming the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win the majority-Arab city of Dearborn.

“Let’s not make the same mistake. There is some level of unity potentially between the Arab population, the Muslim population, and the Republican Party,” Salha said.

“They can choose to either push us away. And as we punished genocide the first time, we can punish the travel ban the second time with our votes.”

Sufian Nabhan is the mosque’s executive director. He said many of the ICD faithful with ties to the Middle Eastern country are concerned.

“They're wondering, ‘Why did this happen?’ How can they visit Yemen and their siblings or their family visit them here,” Nabhan said. “Very disturbing position that Mr. Trump took, especially the Yemeni community did support him, to a point.”