PHOTO: Michigan Radio
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.
Yemeni fighters opposing the Huthi rebels hold a bullet belt in Aden. PHOTO: AFP
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.
Read: US warns Iran on backing Yemen rebels, Tehran defiant
PHOTO: AP
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."
Read: 1,019 stranded Pakistanis evacuated from Yemen: FO
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.
Following is some reactions from Twitter over the non-evacuation of US nationals stranded in Yemen:
US citizens stranded in Yemen claim government has abandoned them amid Saudi-led airstrikes:
— Ramy Abdeljabbar 🐱🐶🇺🇸🇵🇸🇦🇲☪️ (@Ramdog1980) April 2, 2015
... http://t.co/Y5hu218fmb
https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/583345156251901952
China, India, Pakistan, Somalia have evacuated its citizens from Yemen. But US has no plans for stranded Americans. http://t.co/sRkWDj9sra
— Morgan Winsor (@MorganWinsor) March 31, 2015
The story was originally published in Michigan Radio
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