Stranded doctor suing over President Trump's travel ban back in US

Jessica D'Onofrio Image
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Doctor stranded after travel ban returns to Chicago
A Chicago area doctor from Syria who was stranded overseas when the president signed a travel ban returned home Thursday.

CHICAGO -- A Chicago area doctor from Syria who was stranded overseas when the president signed a travel ban returned home Thursday.

Dr. Amer Al Homssi, 24, is an internal medicine resident at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

He traveled to Abu Dhabi to get married and wasn't able to return to Chicago, but will be landing at O'Hare on Thursday after a lot of legal wrangling.

The Syrian native was kept off a plane ever since President Donald Trump signed his controversial executive order, so he filed a lawsuit and Wednesday the court agreed to let him return.

Al Homssi has a passport from the United Arab Emirates. He also has an American J1 student visa.

"I'm just delighted that lawyers were able to resolve something that probably shouldn't have happened in the first place," said Al Homssi's attorney Thomas Durkin.

At a press conference Thursday morning at O'Hare, Al Homssi said he was grateful to his attorneys and the government attorneys and is happy to resume his medical residency.

READ MORE: Complaint, Al Homssi v Trump 17 CV 801

There is another Chicago case pending against the Trump administration. A Chicago man in his 50s, a permanent legal resident who lives with his wife and children, left the country to care for his sick mother in Iran and was refused a plane ticket back to the U.S.

Lawyers for the man would only identify him as John Doe, but his attorneys said he will be allowed to come back as well.