President Trump’s controversial travel ban was given the go-ahead from the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. It is the first time the court has ruled on the ban. Effective immediately, the administration can enforce it.
Upon enforcement, travel will be prohibited from six Muslim majority countries, as well as Venezuela and North Korea.
This will impact millions, including people in Northeast Ohio unable to leave and go see family, or have family come visit them in the United States.
“I really miss them, they really miss me and it’s very hard,” said Farbod Rohani.
Rohani is an Iranian. He’s also a biomedical engineering PhD Student at Cleveland State University.
He hasn’t seen his parents in four years. They’ve been waiting for a travel visa, which Rohani thinks now, will never be approved.
“It’s very hard, it is very hard especially for my parents since I’m their only child, it is hard. I can’t wait for cancelling this rule,” he said.
“Why should many good, talented doctors from all those good countries lose this opportunity?” asked Reza Lavasani.
Lavasani is a physician for University Hopspitals. He thinks the president’s travel ban won’t make Americans safer. Instead, he says it will just prevent people from pursuing education and employment in a place that was sold to them as the land of the free and home of the brave.
“They are really talented and they have a bright future but they are just there and they can’t do anything,” he said.
“The bigger issue here is the signal that this sends, not just to the people that are impacted by the ban, but this is a signal that says America is not open for business anymore,” said Julia Shearson, Executive Director of the Cleveland Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
According to CAIR, since the ban was first proposed, the number of Muslim hate crimes has spiked. But Shearson says the impacts of the ban aren’t limited to just the Muslim community. Instead, it sends a clear message to the world.
“That America’s not the same place that it used to be, that this isn’t the land of opportunity where everybody’s desperate to be here and be in a country that’s full of vigor and life and open to the world,” she said.
The White House said Monday they are not surprised by the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying the ban is essential to protect the homeland.
Legal challenges to the ban continue this week in courts on both the east and west coasts.
