Somalian refugee: Court OK for Trump Muslim ban disappoints

I had recently arrived in Lancaster, Pa., as a refugee from Somalia, when President Trump signed the order in January 2017 blocking entry from seven majority-Muslim countries — the third iteration of which was upheld by the Supreme Court Tuesday.

Dismayed, I immediately began to work with fellow refugees from these countries on a plan to end the stigma our communities faced as a result of the Trump administration’s attempt to cast us as a danger to the country. We’d do it by winning hearts and minds, opening the doors of our homes to share meals, share stories and share experiences.

Trump tries to justify his Muslim ban with his usual mix of distortions, mistruths and xenophobic stereotypes. As someone who has lived the experience of resettling as a refugee, I know how Trump has mischaracterized people like me. The president claims the ban is necessary to protect the United States from state-sponsored terrorism. My family fled our country to escape state terrorism — my father was a victim of political persecution for speaking out against injustice in Somalia.

The president claims the process to screen refugees is so lax as to put the country at risk. My mother, my siblings and I lived for seven years in Dadaab, Kenya, in the largest refugee camp in the world at the time, while our request for asylum was being reviewed by the U.S. government. Extreme does not do justice to the vetting process we endured.

To counteract the president’s distortions, I decided to bring the truth directly to my adopted community in Lancaster. Immediately after the first Muslim ban was signed, I started a small business on a shoestring budget to bring families from the countries affected by the ban together with their neighbors, so we could share our cultures through shared experiences: a meal in an Iraqi home, cooking lessons from a Syrian chef, a concert by Iranian musicians. It wasn’t long before we could barely keep up with demand, and we’ve continued to grow.

What started as informal gatherings with my family in our home has expanded to twice-weekly events in Lancaster and monthly events throughout central Pennsylvania. We’ve held over 200 events so far, and we’ve expanded beyond the seven banned countries and brought on refugee families from Congo, Nepal and Myanmar. Our idea is that these experiences can not only strengthen community relations but also stimulate immigrant entrepreneurialism. We want families to participate in our events and gain skills, start-up capital and a customer base for their own businesses.

The truth is, our story isn’t an anomaly. Immigrants and refugees are vital to the small-business economy in Lancaster and throughout the country.

A recent study found that immigrants in Lancaster are self-employed at a higher rate than their share of the population. Immigrant businesses in Lancaster generated nearly $38 million in revenue in 2014, and immigrants contributed $1.3 billion to the county gross domestic product and nearly $80 million to Social Security and Medicare.

Nationwide, a greater percentage of immigrants are self-employed compared to their native-born counterparts, and the gap has steadily widened over the past decade.

When our basic rights are protected, immigrants have proved that we can thrive. We can do what immigrants in this country have always done: take a challenge and turn it into an opportunity.

Ask any business owner what she or he fears most, and the likely answer is “uncertainty.” For those of us from the countries singled out in the Muslim ban, the past year and a half has been filled with uncertainty. Would our family members be allowed to join us? Could we leave the country and be allowed to return? With the court’s decision, that uncertainty still hangs over us. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the president’s Muslim ban is extremely misguided. In upholding the ban, it has weakened America’s commitment to welcoming refugees and immigrants from all parts of the world. It has cast more uncertainty on the lives of immigrants and refugees from the affected countries and sent an unsettling message to all people who’ve chosen America as their new home. If the United States wishes to claim it’s a country of immigrants, it must protect the rights of immigrants.

In ordering his Muslim ban, President Trump has challenged the fitness of people like me to settle and integrate into this country. I’ve responded the same way I approach my business: thinking creatively, taking a calculated risk and working hard, all the while working to strengthen community ties and local entrepreneurialism. What could be more American than that?