Many Michigan State University students are trying to come to grips with President Trump’s executive order banning certain immigrants from entering the U.S.
The order affects people arriving from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
Ghazal Mehrani, a Lansing attorney of Iranian decent is helping area students to try and navigate their way through the ban.
MSU student Faezah declined to give her full name. She's Iranian. She says the ban has everyone in her community “feeling new aspects of pain.”
Faezah's Story
(I’m) feeling left out and isolated and basically different. Until last week, I didn’t feel different when I was walking around the streets. I used to study in coffee shops a lot, going to restaurants, shopping...but for the last few days, I walk around and I feel like others are more privileged, from any nationality. They’re different, and I’m a different person.
If you look at every individual in this community, you can see new aspects of pain that have been imposed on people. Many people had their parents coming, and this is canceled. I have a brother who had applied to 10 different universities here, and he spent a lot of money, time and energy. That was his plan, right? But now, with one move, all of them are canceled. So, we are not sure if that’s going to affect job hiring, because if you cannot get a visa or a permit to work, then no company would like to have you.
We are used to this, that we cannot make long term plans. Even when we were living in Iran, we had many different incidents where our life story changed overnight because of government decisions.
I can say that this is another story like that.
Even when we were living in Iran, we had many different incidents where our life story changed overnight because of government decisions. I can say that this is another story like that.