CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amid the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of people who were traveling internationally got stuck and are now desperately trying to get back on American soil.
According to the State Department, more than 30,000 U.S. citizens have been repatriated from more than 60 different countries. That includes several people who live in Charlotte. But others are still stuck overseas, struggling to cut through bureaucratic red tape.
It’s becoming scary for many as the State Department warns that time is running out and getting them help is only going to become more difficult.
In a video sent from halfway across the world in Cameroon, Africa, a young dad introduces his family. Getting home seems to be nearly impossible for them.
“We fear for their safety at this point,” Phillip Horton said of them. His daughter Michaela, her husband David went to Africa for a humanitarian mission in 2018. Since then, David and Michaela legally adopted twin girls, Ariella and Claira, and had a baby boy of their own, Philip.
“We are U.S. citizens and that’s our home. It's where we were born and raised and it’s where our families are and everyone deserves to be home during times like this,” David told WCNC virtually.
The family was on a flight list, but bureaucratic red tape is keeping them in Cameroon. The U.S. embassy won't issue visas for the twins.
“These are real people who are doing a very good thing by providing homes for these kids and nothing’s happening to get them home,” said Horton.
They're not the only ones. Thousands of U.S. citizens are in Peru. Kimberly Neal traveled there in early March for a medical mission, saving 21 kids who needed heart surgery. She waited in long lines at the airport only to learn she wouldn't be on a flight. “All the emotions. I broke down crying when I found out I wasn't going to get on the flight that day,” Neal said.
Eventually, she made it inside the airport, seeing people in hazmat suits and masks before making it on a flight and eventually back to Charlotte. Now she wants to help get others safely home. “I’ve been working with an organization called Warrior Angels Rescue they are working with the U.S. Embassy.
They’re a nonprofit trying to get people home,” said Neal. To learn more about the nonprofit and how you can help visit: https://www.warriorangelsrescue.org/
