Champaign- Pooyan Kabir was excited to be going home to Iran in March, that was until the travel ban was issued.Â
"I was going to go home in March, for No-Rooz,it's the Iranian New year. I was going to go home and visit my family in Iran but now with that ban, I'm not going to be able to go home and visit my family." said Kabir.Â
Kabir first came to the United States five years ago to attend school at Texas A&M, he is now studying for his PhD.D at the University of Illinois, and in the time has barely been able to see his parents back home. "The first 3 years I was here I didn't see them at all, but then they came here, and I went back to Iran this past summer. So this summer was the second time in 5 years basically, so that is all I get to see them." he said.Â
Recently, several lawsuits against the travel ban have been filed. Including one lawsuit filed by an Iranian man who is afraid he will be unable to get back into the country after flying to Iran to take care of his mother. These types of lawsuits are expected to increase. "These are real people impacted, these are real people that have had true losses, like companies have had, like universities have had, there have been so many losses and they are being disregarded. So now addressing them and confronting them in court in which the evidence can be put, I believe that this is where the rule of law and justice can be examined." said Ricardo Diaz from the CU Immigration Forum. "As more of us do it, it will be easier to defend. And when we get finally to the courts it will be easier to get justice. Illegal things need to be dealt with."
But in the meantime Kabir is being optimistic about the situation, and looking to the future. "It affected me in a way that I couldn't work for a day or two or three at least." he said. "I kind of felt that I need to recoup and then hope for the best in the future and just do my studies and keep going,"
President Trump issued an Executive Order restricting immigration from seven Muslim majority countries on January 27th.
