Trump ban separates Facebook worker from family in Vancouver

Murtadha Al-Tameemi arrived in the U.S. as a 15-year-old from Iraq but now the Seattle resident and Facebook employee feels like a prisoner in the country he's called home for the past decade. 

His two brothers and mother also fled Iraq and found new lives in Vancouver, B.C. 

Murtadha used to drive up from Washington every weekend to see the family he had previously been separated from for eight years.

But that changed with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order that banned refugees and immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, from entering the United States.

"This is something that will affect people who live here, work here, are contributing members of society, people who pay taxes, people who have families. It will tear families apart, it's ruining people's lives."

Not wanting to take any chances, Murtadha says he called the American side of the Peace Arch border crossing where he normally enters Canada.

"He just said, 'don't come.' He said, 'if you come now, not only are we going to send you back, but we'll cancel your visa.'"

Murtadha's younger brother, Mujtaba Al-Tameemi is also upset over the ban. 

"It's just so unfair. I think ... this whole thing is very silly. Overnight he was here and now he can't come back. It's hard to believe," he said.

Murtadha's father and older brother were killed by a car bombing in Iraq, and the family relies on him to survive financially.

"That's the whole reason we wanted to get away from terrorism ... that's why we left Iraq and came to Canada looking for safer life," said Mujtaba.

CBC News contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about Murtadha's case, but did not receive a reply.

The family will be separated for at least the 90 days that the travel ban is scheduled to be in effect.

Murtadha is left with the dilemma of risking a border-crossing to see his family, but at the potential price of not being able to return to the country he's built his life in.