In your own words: Stories of those affected by Trump's visa ban in US

Here are a few personal accounts of people affected by President Trump’s Executive action on Visa bans.

Kamran Khan, works at Microsoft
My wife and I are legal permanent residents of US. Our two-year old son was born here. Pakistan has not been placed on the list, yet.

But we are not leaving the country for foreseeable future. Trump?s absolutely bonkers and random. His executive orders come as surprise to even his own cabinet. Who knows, maybe we?ll drive to Vancouver and upon returning a few hours later we?ll be told that we cannot enter USA anymore. We?re not going back home to visit family or relatives.

We are thankfully, not refugees. But the general atmosphere now is that of fear and apprehension. I don?t go to the mosque ? or for that matter, I?m not even a religious person ? but that does not mean that I?m not afraid.


Pourya Darnihamedani, ; Entrepreneurship Researcher

I was planning to go to a conference in Atlanta in the summer, Academy of Management to present my paper and get to know other scholars. But this idea is shattered by Mr. Trump?s order. When I think about it, it feels horrible and unjust to be banned only because of my nationality (Iranian); something that is randomly assigned to you and you have no control over it.

I have nothing to do with terrorism as I am merely an academician and entrepreneurship writer. Yet, they imposed a ban on someone like me. I really like the US as a country since I traveled four times before but now it seems unlikely..

Iranians form a successful and intellectual community in the US and there has never been ANY terrorist attack by Iranians so I am sure that there are other reasons to put my country in the list.


Niyati Vishwanath

My cousin?s H4 Visa was recently rejected, so he moved from where he was working in Orlando and stayed with us for a few weeks before his flight back to India. He left SFO on a Thursday red-eye and, due to flight pricing, decided to take a 3-leg flight East instead of flying West over the Pacific, which is what we usually do when going to India.

He had a stopover in Dallas/Ft Wth right after Trump announced the visa ban, and had no idea what was going on.

We got a call from him on Friday morning that went something like this (translated into English)-
?Did something important happen during my flight??
?No, not really, why? Did your flight get cancelled??? (He had a two hour stopover so any delays would have made him miss two more subsequent flights)

?No, no, that?s all fine, but I was just randomly stopped and asked for a passport check and they said it was new protocol, do you know anything about that??

After some digging we realized that he was randomly stopped while walking from one terminal to the other and asked to show his passport by an airport official. He said they asked him several question about his Indian passport and checked it for its authenticity before letting him go.


Benyamin Jamshideyan, Swedish, Aspiring Writer/Poet, Dreamer

I was actually planning on traveling to USA during spring, which has always been my dream. I was planning on traveling to Venice at first, but then I said to myself: ?why not New York or Los Angeles, like you always wanted??

I love New York. My fictional work is based on a lot of things about the city and the vibe that I?ve always felt vibrating from it whenever seeing it in art, film or reading it in a book. I actually know some streets now, because of research for my book. The city, in my opinion, is breathtaking and unique. I played GTA IV, just so that I could feel the dark, rainy New York City feel washing into my soul here in Sweden.

I?ve never been a fan of the American government (as one may know if they?ve been following me on Quora). Not that I?m much of a fan of any state?s government in the world, really.

Now I obviously can?t since I?m of Iranian descent and a national through my parents, despite the fact that I was raised in Sweden from the age of 1.5. I?m not politically involved, not an activist in any form, just a normal Swedish national who aspires to be a writer and is deeply both influenced and inspired by the culture of USA.


Faria Ali, Studying mind basis of politics
We are US citizens born in Pakistan. My spouse?s parents are legal Permanent residents from Pakistan. Although Pakistan is not on the list yet, like Kamran Khan mentioned who the heck knows.

They are visiting Pakistan right now for a wedding. Who knows if they will be allowed back in and how long my two children aged two and four will be waiting for their Grammy and granddaddy whom they adore.

What is disturbing about this EO is that it undermines the promise of the United States government. A legal Permanent Resident is essentially a United States citizen minus voting and jury duty. Lawful Permanent Residents | Homeland Security so going forward this does not mean anything if you happen to be Muslim. You are not welcome in your own country where you have your life, your home, the people you love.

I’m also not a practicing Muslim but who cares. Now we wait if our kids grandparents make it back in a few weeks and how much of the ?extreme vetting? 75 year olds with health issues can endure.

This is not the country we made home two decades ago as aspiring teenagers. We don’t recognize this America.

Read the rest of the accounts?on Quora

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