Brown Univ. student stuck in Turkey following travel ban

By: Rebecca Turco

rturco@abc6.com

@RTurcoABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Syrian doctor studying at Brown University is stuck overseas, days after President Trump’s travel ban on seven countries.

Khaled Almilaji is studying public health as part of a university program to support students and scholars from Syria in continuing their education and research.

What was supposed to be a week-long trip to turkey on a medical mission has turned into something much longer.

First, he learned his student visa had expired two days after he arrived. Then, as he worked to get it expedited, President Trump signed an executive order barring travelers from Turkey, Syria and five other Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.

"There are terrorists and other bad actors who are seeking to infiltrate our homeland every single day,” explained Secretary John Kelly, insisting this is a security measure, not a ban on Muslims.

Almilaji feels differently: "We want the U.S. strong and peaceful, sending messages of love and inclusiveness to everybody, not the messages of hate and exclusiveness."

He moved to Providence in August to learn ways to rebuild his war-torn country’s health system, years after he was tortured and forced to flee there at the start of the civil war. "I went out with the determination on helping those people who are resisting this totality," he said.

Since then, he has coordinated a campaign that vaccinated 1.4 million Syrian children and provided medical care during Syria’s civil war.

Almilaji says he went to Turkey at the beginning of January to check on the team of doctors he’s working with to create health facilities in Syria and train medical workers. He also went there to extend his residency permit, so he can return there after he graduates from Brown.

Now he’s hoping to return to America as soon as possible. "We learned something from this war in Syria, that we have always to be optimistic," Almilaji said.

The university has reached out to members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation and other government agencies to try to expedite Almilaji’s return. In the meantime, professors have provided him with course materials so he can continue his studies.

© WLNE-TV 2016