OPINION
REMEMBERING SAVANNAH MCNEALY PAGE 8
Vol. 127, No. 51 Thursday, October 26, 2017
(Left) Amal Kassir speaks to law enforcement at a protest at Denver International Airport last spring during the travel ban last January. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOEY BUNCH, THE GAZETTE (Above) A poster at Denver International Airport during last January’s protest that says “Refugees are welcome here.” PHOTO COURTESY OF JOEY BUNCH, THE GAZETTE
Travel ban students still face fear, separation from family By Abbie Currie @abcchick15
While the recent executive order for a travel ban allows international students from banned countries to stay and continue their studies at Colorado State University, the ban does not allow family from those countries to visit. On Sept. 24, 2017, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation titled, “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats.” The proclamation is a follow
up to an executive order released on March 6, 2017. The executive order was issued in order “to protect the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” There are eight countries included in the proclamation. These countries include Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia. Each of these countries have their own restrictions on Visas, and an explanation of why the country is included on the list, provided in the proclamation. Mark Hallett, the senior director of international student and scholarship services at Colorado State University said if a
student is at Colorado State with a Visa they can stay and study. The problem that arises with the ban is family visits. Ahmed Farah, a freshman at CSU has three siblings in Somalia, including a sister who returned to Somalia to get married. His siblings will not be able to see him graduate. “My mom hasn’t seen a lot of her children for a long time,” Farah said. “It’s hard for her because she says she’s ‘aging’, and I have little siblings now too.” Farah said a lot of people have lost their family in Somalia’s civil war. Farah said he is thankful his family lives in Kismayo, Somalia’s capital, because they avoid-
ed some of the bombing that way. Farah said his mother is afraid to visit, because she there is fear she might not be able to come back. “She has to stay up until 4 a.m. just to talk to everybody,” Farah said. “When that bomb happened like a week ago she had to call everybody to see if they were okay, if they got affected. A lot of her friends and relatives died or are missing.” Farah himself was born in Kenya, and currently has a sister who lives there. According to Farah, his mother applied as a refugee in 1984. It wasn’t until 2009, after living in a refugee camp, that Ahmed and his family were able
to move to the U.S. While in Kenya, Farah said, he lived in a predominately Somali, primarily Islamic, camp. Farah said he visited his family two years ago. He has permanent residency, and upon return had no trouble getting back into the States. Farah has applied and is waiting for citizenship. According to Farah his mom wanted to bring their family to the U.S. for the opportunity. “I think America is always going to be viewed as the land of the free,” Farah said. “A lot of people want to live here. They want to seek better opportunities see TRAVEL BAN on page 4 >>