SAN FRANCISCO — After three agonizing years apart, Uber driver Samer Alrajab Agha thought he’d soon be reuniting with his wife and five children, Syrian refugees he’d left behind in Turkey.
Their long-awaited visas had arrived in the mail. The six plane tickets to New York were booked. But that dream was dashed when the family was turned away at the airport in January under President Donald Trump’s first travel ban.
“We were devastated. It’s hard to explain it,” said Agha’s 19-year-old son, Abdalah Alrajab Agha. “We were just so close.”
In the end, it was Uber that helped bring the family back together. When a federal judge suspended the ban in early February, the San Francisco-based company shelled out $4,700 for new plane tickets to New York, $7,000 for the family to rent a home on Staten Island and $2,500 for travel expenses — costs Agha couldn’t afford after paying for the plane tickets his family was barred from using.
That sort of help offers a stark contrast to other recent revelations about the world’s most valuable startup and its culture. Animosity toward the $68 billion ride-hailing company reached a new high last month after a string of accusations of sexual harassment, sexism and outrageous managerial behavior culminated in a viral video of CEO Travis Kalanick losing his temper in an argument with a driver over fares.
But Uber has kept a promise it made in January to help drivers caught up in the travel ban. The company, which vowed to put $3 million toward the effort, has provided free legal help, U.S.-bound plane tickets and other support to hundreds of drivers and their family members affected by the executive order that barred immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. So far, Uber has reunited 26 drivers with family members they were separated from under the ban, flying a total of 68 people to the U.S. Nearly 500 drivers have reached out to Uber for legal help and support, and the company said it was still receiving requests last week.
Uber says it will continue to offer those services as drivers struggle with uncertainty in the face of version two of Trump’s travel ban. A federal judge in Hawaii temporarily suspended the second ban Wednesday, and a Maryland judge followed with a similar order, but Trump has made it clear he’ll fight those rulings.
“You feel like someone is behind you,” said Syrian Uber driver Mohammed Barazi, of Pleasant Hill, who reached out to the company after getting stuck in Saudi Arabia while attending his sister’s wedding. “You’re not just alone, waiting in the airport, panicking that they’re going to send you back to wherever you came from.”
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Barazi, an equity research analyst who started driving in September as a way to network and find job opportunities in his field, spent several days wondering if he’d ever return home. When he finally made it back to U.S. soil, Uber greeted him with a welcoming party at the San Francisco airport.
“Welcome home, Mohammed!” said a large orange poster. The group waiting for him gave him chocolate and a free Uber ride back to his house.
But most importantly, Uber had offered free legal help during his ordeal in case officials changed their minds and decided green card holders like 30-year-old Barazi weren’t allowed back into the U.S. Knowing that made the hourlong customs screening — and being taken to a special room for questioning — less scary, he said.
Taking advantage of what many feared would be a small window of opportunity after a federal judge in Seattle suspended the first travel ban in February, Uber rushed to purchase flights to the U.S. for drivers and family members from the countries listed in the ban — Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Iran, Syria and Iraq — who were stuck abroad.
The company offered help in an email sent to all drivers immediately after the ban went into effect, and set up a 24/7 call center to connect drivers with outside attorneys paid for by the company. Support centers also were set up around the U.S., including in San Francisco. Each driver and family member returning home was met at the airport by three people — a lawyer, an interpreter and an Uber employee. Uber offered to pay drivers back for earnings they missed while stuck abroad.
“Some drivers, they really just were afraid,” said Carrol Chang, an Uber general manager who helped coordinate the company’s travel ban-related efforts. “Their families were being held apart. They just didn’t know what their options were and what the ban meant for them.”
Uber wouldn’t say how much of the $3 million it set aside for driver aid has been spent so far.
The ride-hailing company helped Ali Muflahi, a Yemeni Uber driver and U.S. citizen, bring his wife home to Brooklyn. The two were married in Yemen in 2011, and after the wedding, Muflahi left her there and returned to New York, assuming his wife would soon follow. But it took years for her to secure a visa. When she finally did, the travel ban went into effect while the couple were in middle of their journey to the U.S. — leaving them stranded in Japan.
That’s when Muflahi received an email from Uber. The company got Muflahi a lawyer, and when the ban was suspended, Uber bought the tickets to the U.S.
“I never got support in the whole situation,” Muflahi said. “Only from Uber.”
