The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan chapter has filed a federal lawsuit to push the United States government to evacuate stranded American nationals in Yemen.
Lena Masri, the staff attorney at CAIR Michigan, said, “The US government has done absolutely nothing to protect, evacuate and repatriate its own citizens, estimated at 55,000, that are currently stranded in Yemen.”
Executive director of CAIR Michigan Dawud Walid pointed out that “multiple countries from China, Russia to Somalia have evacuated their citizens.”
“Yet our country with the strongest military in the world is leaving our citizens to languish,” he lamented.
Walid feared that the US government’s failure to rescue its citizens in the troubled country is part of a long-standing pattern of discrimination against Americans of Yemini origin.
The lawsuit is part of a multi-pronged effort seeking an emergency evacuation.
Notifying President Barak Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry of the lawsuit, CAIR Michigan wrote a letter: “Contrary to its legal obligations, the United States has abandoned Yemeni Americans.”
Walid furthered that CAIR Michigan is also scheduled to meet early next week with Michigan members of Congress to urge them put forth a demand that President Obama mount an emergency evacuation.