Pleasantville woman continues to face obstacles trying to get mother from Lebanon to US

A Pleasantville woman is still trying to get her mother back to the United States from Lebanon.

News 12 Staff

Nov 14, 2021, 4:37 PM

Updated 1,055 days ago

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A Pleasantville woman is still trying to get her mother back to the United States from Lebanon.
"I am definitely scared. There's a terrorist group currently ruling the country," Malak Benzenberg said back in August, when News 12 first met her via video conference while she was 5,604 miles away in her hometown of Beirut, Lebanon. That's how her husband, Brant, had to also talk to her for six months.
Born in Beirut, she rightfully became a U.S. citizen, then returned to Lebanon in May when her mother's dementia worsened.
She tried desperately to bring her mother back to the U.S. with her, but every visa was denied.
Meantime, conditions in Lebanon only got worse.
“Any time, a sniper could go on a building and just shoot civilians, on top of everything else that is going on like from food shortage, medicine shortage, fuel shortage, all of that — and corrupt government, of course,” she says.
Benzenberg was able to get her mother a special visa to stay with family in Italy, but only for three months. She counld finally see her husband, recuperate and get medications in the U.S. that she can't find in Lebanon.
But uncertainty looms ahead when Benzenberg must leave again to take her mother back to Lebanon.
She feels like she has tried every last resort, even asking Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand for help, but to no avail.
"I feel like I'm going to have to stay there a lot longer," Benzenberg says. "I do feel that we deserve that chance for a humanitarian help."