After a harrowing nine-day detention at Bush Intercontinental Airport, a Palestinian man, Muhanad Alshrouf, was finally able to embrace his father, Jamal Alshrouf, in Houston. According to a video shared with KTRK by the family's attorney, the reunion took place last night. While Jamal, a resident of Houston, is a U.S. citizen, his son Muhanad resides in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and is not. CW39 reported the young man had been granted a U.S. immigration visa after a thorough application process, yet the couple was left to grapple with an uncertain and distressing period of prolonged detainment, the reasons for which remain undisclosed by Customs and Border Protection.
On July 5, when Muhanad's plane was due to arrive, his father, Jamal was there to greet him, expecting to quickly share in the joy of family reunification. However, his son never appeared from the airport's gates, leaping from anticipation into a state of shock. "Fifth of July was supposed to be the most exciting day for me," Jamal told ABC13. Despite his son's approved immigration visa tailored for minors with at least one U.S. citizen parent, the young man's whereabouts and conditions during the detainment remained elusive to his family.
Maria Kari, who leads Project TAHA, a non-profit legal advocacy group, expressed her dismay at the lack of transparency. "We've asked them repeatedly to give us an idea of what their plans, what their reasons are for continued detention. We're told that they can give us no information," Kari lamented in a statement obtained by ABC13. The family was not told about Muhanad's treatment or exact location in the airport detention center.
Both the father and the advocacy group highlighted the family's adherence to the immigration process, proclaiming the legitimacy and diligence of their approach. "You talk about the pathways to immigration and right way of doing things. This family has gone by the book," Kari emphasized. Jamal, reflecting back to the events, shared his disbelief, stating, "His dream was to come here when he was a little boy. Most of the time, I'm talking about America. How is the freedom, how is the life? I got shocked. I don't know how this happened with me and with him. I have been living here for more than 20 years," as per his interview with ABC13. Despite reaching out for official comment on the situation, U.S. Border Patrol, ICE, and Homeland Security have not provided ABC13 with any substantive details.
