Over mid-winter break, I’m supposed to head to London to visit my grandparents. Despite my whole family having US citizenship, I also have a Pakistani visa and my parents have Pakistani citizenship, so we don’t know what it’s going to be like trying to get home.
If a family with blue passports who are here legally are considering hiring a lawyer before they next leave the country, imagine how those who are not as fortunate feel. This is a prime example of how the immigration ban affects way more people than just those who got stopped at the airport a few weeks ago.
It affects those who have worked hard, contributed to America’s dynamic economy and kept their noses clean to give their family a chance at a better life. My father’s first flight in his entire life was the one from Pakistan to the US for a college education. Is he a terrorist? No. He was a kid looking to get out of the slums. The US opened its arms and helped keep his American Dream alive.
The Statue of Liberty, the embodiment of American freedom, has an inscription on her pedestal saying, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Not only was my dad part of that mass yearning to breathe free, but there are hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis working hard to start a new life in a country that has been known for opening its arms to any and all.
The ban affects my cousins, both of whom are here on visas and Pakistani passports trying to follow in the footsteps of their uncle. They’re living in fear that Pakistan is next, they fear that they’ll lose their jobs, their right to an education, and they’ll end up where they started, only with a lot less hope.
But one may say: “Pakistan isn’t banned! You have nothing to worry about!” And to that statement, I say this: It’s not a ban on countries. It’s the first step to banning Muslims from the United States. Using the logic of pro-gun activists, they say that limiting is the first step to abolishing. The same idea applies here. It starts with a few predominantly Muslim countries and next thing you know, anyone who practices Islam won’t be in the country.
With a US passport, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be safe from any ban on Muslims. However, I wouldn’t have that American citizenship or even be here today writing this, if the US had barred an 18-year-old kid from Pakistan from getting his degree for fear that he was a “radical Islamic terrorist.”
By Mahir Piyarali