For the first time in my life, I strangely found myself agreeing with a statement issued by Iran's foreign ministry.
The statement, in response to US President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from travelling to the United States, read: "The US decision to restrict travel for Muslims to the US, even if for a temporary period of three months, is an obvious insult to the Islamic world ... Despite the claims of combating terrorism and keeping American people safe, it will be recorded in history as a big gift to extremists and their supporters."
![President Donald Trump has announced a ban on immigration from seven majority Muslim nations.](/web/20170201182330im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/w/g/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu0yy9.png/1485746710512.jpg)
Although I do not agree with Iran's tit-for-tat approach – the ministry in the same statement threatened to reciprocate and stop US citizens from now travelling to Iran – I live in hope that the US is going through a phase of temporary insanity and we can work to stop Trump's racist and hateful ban.
I was born in Iran but raised in Australia. We came to this great country when I was a baby, shortly after the 1979 revolution. My parents, both from persecuted minority religions, like millions of other Iranians at the time, fled Iran in the late '70s and early '80s after the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah was overthrown (with the support of the US and Britain) and replaced by an Islamic republic.
![Sit down: A demonstration against Donald Trump's executive order on immigration at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.](/web/20170201182330im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/y/6/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu0yy9.png/1485881005657.jpg)
While the Trump ban includes seven majority Muslim countries (it's important to note they are not alone among the top sources of Muslim immigration to the US, and other Muslim countries not on the list including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and Pakistan have produced more terrorists), it will affect non-Muslims too.
I am an Australian citizen. But my Australian passport states that I was born in Tehran. So in early 2016 when the Obama administration changed the law to require people with origin from these seven countries to apply for a visa, I no longer qualified for a visa waiver, and had to attend an interview with the US consulate to obtain a work visa for the US.
Although I now hold a valid US visa to work in the US, the ad-hoc nature of Trump's ban – essentially it is up to US border agents to decide who gets in and doesn't – I could be denied entry to the US at least for 90 days because of my country of origin. Many others like me, Muslim or not, may be barred from travelling to the US.
Beyond selfish reasons of wanting to travel to America, I think about the detrimental impact this ban has on the progression and betterment of humankind. For 120 days, the order bars the entry of any refugee who is awaiting resettlement in the US.
America had been due to accept genuine refugees, persecuted women and children from the world's worst conflict zones including Syria (Trump has called for Syrian refugees to be banned indefinitely). Former US president Barack Obama last year designated the number at 110,000. Trump's executive order cuts the refugee number to 50,000. Where will these people go now? What hope will they have for resettlement somewhere safe?
I think about the massive brain drain that will occur – not just of educated Muslims, but religious minorities who take genuine offence at singling out a religion like Adolf Hitler once did. In the last few days alone, we've heard of a Harvard-bound Iranian scientist working on a diabetes cure barred from entering the US. We've heard that Oscar-nominated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose film The Salesman is nominated for an Academy Award in the best foreign-language film category, may be unable to attend the ceremony next month.
It is worth remembering that US-based Iranians (also known as Persian Americans) many of whom still hold dual citizenship, are some of the most highly educated in America. According to the latest census data available, more than one in four Iranian-Americans holds a master's or doctoral degree – one of the highest rates among almost 70 ethnic groups studied.
It is these people – the educated moderates – who can work as the greatest weapon against extremism. Individuals who assimilate, who give back to the nations they now call home, and who act as a role model for newly-arrived migrants seeking a better life.
Muslims and non-Muslims should join in recognising the positive contribution migrants have made and could continue to make to Western nations including the US. We should all keep pressuring Donald Trump – using whatever legal, economic, political and social levers we have at out disposal – to reverse a ban that threatens us all.
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