CCS Reunites Refugee Family After 14 Years

Friday, Nov. 24, 2017

When he was only 2 years old, Fuad Mohamud was separated from his parents and siblings when they were forced to flee their home during the civil war in Somalia. Fuad and his grandmother fled to Ethiopia, while the rest of their family escaped to Kenya. Before they could find each other, the border between the two countries closed, making it impossible for the family members to rejoin. 

A few years later the Mohamud family was accepted for resettlement to the United States, but they were presented with the most difficult decision of their lives: to leave their young son behind in Kenya and lose their chance to resettle in the U.S., or stay behind. 

In the end, they decided to travel to the U.S., knowing that this decision would provide a better life for their other children, and planning for their son to follow them. However, it took 11 years before Fuad was approved for immigration to the U.S. 

Even then the roadblocks to reunification were not over for the Mohamud family. After the Trump Administration’s series of travel bans, immigrants and refugees from Somalia were at risk of being barred from entry to the U.S. The family’s fears intensified when the latest travel ban announced that, effective Oct. 18, all immigration from Somalia would be suspended.

As a result, Catholic Community Services of Utah’s immigration team worked tirelessly to get Fuad reunited with his family before the deadline. Their hard work paid off when Fuad arrived in Utah on Oct. 11, just days before it would be no longer possible. 

When asked what it is was like to see his family after 14 years of separation, Fuad simply said, “heaven.”