After a week and a half in immigration custody, 16-year-old Katy High School student and Jordanian national Mohammad Abu Khadra is back in Texas.
Mohammad flew from Chicago and landed in Houston late Wednesday morning, where his brother, Rami, picked him up. Mohammad’s arrival marked the end of a chapter in a case that has raised questions about President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order on immigration and how it affects travelers from Muslim-majority countries, including those not explicitly listed in the order.
Ali Zakaria, an attorney representing Mohammad and his family, said he was relieved Mohammad was reunited with his brother.
“I have a 16-year-old myself at home, I couldn’t imagine if something like that happened to my son,” Zakaria said. “It’s a happy day, and we want to let it sink in so they can enjoy the moment now. Then we’ll come up with legal strategy and address legal issues at that time.”
Mohammad was flagged by Customs and Border Protection agents at a Houston airport on Jan. 28, the day after Trump signed an executive order barring all refugees for 120 days and banning all travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, including Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iran. It included an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees entering the U.S.