Wajdi Al-Mowafak, CWS’ Director of Finance Business Partners, was on the verge of reuniting with his parents in the United States when President Trump’s executive order indefinitely suspending refugee admissions upended their plans. Now, like thousands of others, his family is trapped in limbo, facing uncertainty as their dreams of safety and stability vanish overnight.
Two of those impacted were the parents of Wajdi Al-Mowafak, CWS’ Director of Finance Business Partners. Wajdi himself arrived in the United States alongside his wife and three children on May 6, 2023 after fleeing war and corruption in his home country of Yemen and then spending years working for CWS’ local partner in Cairo, St. Andrew’s Refugee Services.
A Family’s Journey Toward Reunification
Immediately after his arrival, Wajdi began looking for ways to bring his parents, who remained in Egypt, to the United States. Alongside a small group of neighbors and friends, he applied for Welcome Corps, a U.S. Department of State program launched in 2023 to allow community members to sponsor and welcome refugees. After a lengthy approval process, Wajdi and his family were ready to reunite with his parents—until news of the Trump administration’s refugee ban changed their lives in an instant.
“On January 20, we started to feel concerned about the cases,” Wajdi shared. Following news of the Executive Order, his parents received a call telling them that their flight was cancelled, with no information about when their travel would be rescheduled. “They left their apartment in Egypt and sold their furniture. They prepared themselves to move to the United States. My father has Parkinson’s disease, and my sister moved from California to help me take care of them.”
A Future on Hold: Families Left in Limbo
Like thousands of others, Wajdi’s parents are now living in limbo, uncertain whether they will even be able to travel to the United States in the future. “We lost the hope that they are coming.”
The impacts of these sweeping executive actions are immense, putting vulnerable families in the United States and around the world in immediate danger. Many people in Wajdi’s life—friends, family and neighbors—have been affected by the refugee ban and are now living in fear without certainty of what the future holds. “I know many people who have been impacted. Some of my colleagues in Cairo had flights scheduled in February. They waited for up to 23 years. They prepared themselves for a new life for their kids, for their family. Then, everything just vanished overnight.”
Wajdi hopes that other Americans hearing about these actions understand the impacts they will have on our neighbors. “These are lives that are impacted. These are people who started their dreams, their hopes to move to a safer place. They are refugees sometimes for decades. They have spent more than half of their lives as refugees, and this is the only hope they had to move to another country,” he shared. “Finally they find a light, and that light just switches off.”
In the year since Wajdi and his family arrived in the United States, they’ve celebrated many accomplishments. Mohamed, his eldest son, graduated from high school, and his two daughters are making friends and excelling in activities from soccer and ice skating to building their leadership skills in class. Wajdi himself was promoted in his position at CWS after less than a year.
Over the past several months, however, the feelings of safety and acceptance they felt since their arrival began to shift. “My life was great. I felt safe in the United States. Then, things started to change recently,” Wajdi shared. “We are legal, we entered here, we have green cards but there is still a feeling in our community that we are not safe. To the extent that my wife and I are giving green cards to my kids when they leave the house.”
Hope for a Better Future
In this moment of incredible uncertainty, Wajdi still has hopes for the future—for himself, for his family and for the future of America. “I want to live in a safe place, in safe circumstances, without fear that someone comes to your house or stops your kids on the street based on the language they speak. For my family, I hope to just live in this country.”
“Since the creation of the United States, its values were to protect everyone in this country. I hope those values are protected. If we continue in this direction, we are losing our values and our humanity’s values as well.”
Church World Service will continue to serve those in our care using all the resources we have at our disposal. We will stay true to our mission, and we urge you to stay with us in this time of great need. If you are able to donate or join in local mutual aid efforts, we need your help to support those who are in jeopardy due to recent administration actions.