AT LOGAN, TOGETHER AT LAST
Immigrants arrive after hold on ban
Some Iranians waiting for loved ones at Logan International Airport defended aspects of President Trump’s controversial travel ban but were quick to say their lives have been flipped upside down by the executive order targeting seven Muslim countries.
“There’s a mixed feeling. I know he has the right intentions to keep us safe. I totally get it,” said Arash Shirazi. “I love the country as much as he does. I wish he would have thought how this affects families.”
Shirazi, 50, of Sutton, a U.S. citizen who works in the biotech industry, waited for his father-in-law at the airport yesterday. He said multiple airlines overseas had barred his wife’s father from boarding a plane to the United States after Trump signed the executive order.
Yesterday, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s request to set aside a Seattle judge’s ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.
Omid Ghasemi, 44, an Iranian who has applied for a green card and works as a scientist for a pharmaceutical company, waited at Logan for a friend yesterday.
He said Trump’s executive order has caused him to start applying for jobs in Canada. Ghasemi said he’s not angry, but disappointed.
“Presidents can do whatever they want,” he said. “It’s in his powers to do this, he can do what he thinks is right to keep the country safe.”
Other immigrants at the airport yesterday were not so diplomatic.
“I’m happy that no one is above the Constitution — not even the president,” said Naser Sharifi, 30, an Iranian student.
Sharifi, who is on a student visa studying engineering, waited for his wife at Logan. He ran to her and they hugged when she got through customs. Sharifi noted Trump’s executive order only targets people from seven Muslim-majority countries, Sharifi said, so he doesn’t see it as a complete ban on Muslims.
Nayrouz Talua, from Libya, waited for her mother, who about a week ago was barred by an airline while overseas.
Talua, a student at Boston University studying dentistry, was relieved her mother would be able to see her graduate. The two hugged, and Talua’s mother, Ghalia Shaban, was all smiles as she greeted her daughter and three granddaughters.
“I am so, so, so ... happy,” she said, noting how “difficult” her recent journey to Boston has been. Asked what she wants to say to Trump, Shaban just grimaced and shook her head.