Brooklyn bodega shuts down to protest Trump travel ban ahead of Supreme Court hearing
BAY RIDGE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The legality of President Trump's controversial travel ban from eight mostly Muslim countries will be argued Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tuesday night, a deli in Brooklyn closed its doors for an hour in protest of the travel ban. For them, it is personal.
"I miss my grandmother. It's been a long time since I seen her," said Mohammad Alluhabi.
For Mohammad, the travel ban isn't about national security, it's about his grandmother.
"It's not fair," he said.
Mohammad's father Shamsan owns the 80th Street Deli in Bay Ridge, and his 70-year-old mother is in Yemen, one of eight countries included in President Trump's travel ban.
She lives there as a brutal civil war swirls around her.
Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the travel ban that keeps Shamsan's mother in Yemen should stand.
"In Yemen there is too much trouble, too much war," said Shamsan. "One day she's going to pass away."
For Shamsan and his family, the travel ban is real. It keeps his mother trapped in a dangerous war zone, separate from him and his family. In Bay Ridge, he's not alone. A lot of people are in the same position.
"In our district this is a very personal thing, it's very real," said City Councilman Justin Brannan of Bay Ridge. "It's something that folks whether they have family back home or they're waiting for family to come here, whatever it may be, the anxiety and the fear is very, very real."
New York has seen several protests of the president's three travel bans, and the first two were dropped because of court challenges. The president believes the current version will survive.
Shamsan just wants to see his mom.
"I miss her, it's five years I don't see her," he said.
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