U.S. citizen's family was denied visas under Trump's travel ban. Then he died by suicide.

[mfcorey1]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-citizens-family-was-denied-visas-under-trumps-travel-ban-then-he-died-by-suicide/ar-BBLa4Or?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

In the early morning hours of July 18, Mahmood Salem told his family over the phone that he had a gun in his hand and was going to kill himself.

The Yemeni U.S. citizen had called his family after turning off the lights, locking the doors and flipping the sign to closed at Fat Boys grocery store in Crowley, Louisiana, his family said. From his apartment in the back of the store, Salem, 31, phoned his wife and five children who were living in Djibouti on the east coast of Africa. Salem's three youngest kids are U.S. citizens, but his wife and two oldest are not — and they were denied visas under President Donald Trump's travel ban.

Salem was one of thousands of Yemeni-Americans separated from non-U.S. citizen family members by the presidential proclamation. The travel ban blocks immigration from seven countries, including business, visitor, lottery, or family reunification visas for Yemenis. In effect since December, the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in June.

During his last phone call with his family in Djibouti, relatives said Salem told them he didn't have enough money to support them in Djibouti, where rent can be six times higher than in Yemen. Salem's brother said he borrowed $7,000 from family but still couldn't make ends meet. Meanwhile, Salem's children were sick, plagued by bug bites and rashes due to Djibouti's hot climate.

When Salem told his wife and kids he wanted to kill himself and hung up the phone, the family called back again and again with no answer, his brother said. Abdulrahman Ahmed, Salem's employer and childhood friend, told NBC News he received a frantic call from Salem's 14-year-old son asking him to go check on his father.

[irisblue]

1. 🕯️

[hlthe2b]

2. I am sickened...

May there be kindness-- never shown here--for Salem in some other realm.

May Trump and his hate-filled allies face whatever hell is due them.

[smirkymonkey]

3. So tragic.

The cruelty of this administration is bottomless. They are destroying people's lives and they just don't care.

RIP Salem.

[2naSalit]

5. Sadly,

history indicates that its the American way. We just can't seem to help ourselves, even with all our education and vows to do better.

[Solly Mack]

14. I often think when I hear those vows to do better that the one making the vow needs to choke on it.

Because it's always - always - about some atrocity we, as a nation, already did know better about and still did it anyway.

Our government commits another crime against humanity then people act as if the latest one is some aberration.That it is somehow counter to the nation's character.

But if that was so, why does it keep happening?

I find it easy to not kidnap children or to torture people.

Why can't my government?

If I kidnapped children or tortured people, I'd go to prison.

Why is a government held to a lower standard?

Why do people expect less from their government?

Why do people rationalize it when it is government engaged in criminal acts?

All that "healing" the nation is told will happen if we only allow the criminal government to go free never seems to take place does it?

Instead, people forget or force the matter away....until the next time.

And then, like the well worn verse it is, the ditty begins again.

Same song, same repetitive chorus...with the same results.

[2naSalit]

4. I don't have the sources right now

to cite but I heard on some NPR show last week that there were a few parents who committed suicide after their children were taken from them and they couldn't recover them. This was a week or two ago but it needs to be screamed out loud every day!!

[democratisphere]

6. There has never been an American so-called president that has been more evil.

[northoftheborder]

7. No words can express my feelings....

evil faces are not enough.....

[Scarsdale]

8. He was a hardworking man,

a family man doing the best he could for his family. Remind me, again, what is it that Maleria Trump's parents and sister brought to this country when THEY got their visas? We know Maleria came over as a "model" for a well known pimp in NY. What qualifications do her parents have? Must be good, since they live part time in Trump Tower, and Mar-A-Lago. Here is a woman left widowed with 5 children to raise. The gop needs to be buried in this coming election, then finished off at the 2020 election. Useless, cruel, less-than human.

[watoos]

9. Melania has never produced her work visas

as far as I am concerned she worked here illegally under a tourist visa which makes her citizenship null and void.

By the way, it isn't just Trump who is evil, his cult empowers him and are just as much to blame, including the GOP Congress.

[Duppers]

10. ...

This hurts.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. This world is so hard and cruel.

[IronLionZion]

12. The family values party

really screws families hard, separates families, leaves children without parents, and so on. They need to stop calling themselves pro-life.

[cheezmaka]

13. Evil to the core...

is an understatement.

[Solly Mack]

15. I'm so sorry, Mr Salem.

I'm so sorry to his family.