Under dim lights in her apartment, Khulood Nasher clutched two winter coats, with the price tags still on, for her sons trapped in Yemen's war.

The last time she saw them, Omar was 13 and Rami 14 years old.

That was seven years ago.

"I'm not sure if maybe I'll still be alive when I see them again," Nasher said as her voice wavered. "I really give up."

Years after applying to reunite with their mother, Rami and Omar had a visa interview at the US embassy in Djibouti last winter. Nasher rushed to buy the coats to ensure that her sons didn't catch a cold after they stepped off the plane in New York. Two weeks later, President Donald Trump's executive order banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, and pushed for extreme vetting on visa applications.

A second ban in June blocked only those without a bona fide US relationship like a family tie, work contract or university admission. The third version, targeting citizens from six of the original countries plus North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela, was temporarily blocked by a federal court in October.

But earlier this month, the US Supreme Court ruled to let the government enforce the most recent ban while lower courts debate its legality. The White House maintains that the ban is intended to target countries that have not provided enough information to allow for the proper vetting of travellers, but rights groups say it disproportionately targets Muslims.

And while Nasher's sons — as the family members of a permanent resident who won asylum — do not fall under the travel ban, they still face extreme vetting procedures and lengthy delays under what legal experts and advocates have called a "ban beyond the ban."

Read the full article about the "silent Muslim ban" for Yemenis by Mallory Moench at aljazeera.com.