Mediaboss Marketing

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS)

At 18-months-old, Varghese Alexander, with his father leading the way, immigrated from Libya to the United States. It was 1983. Libya is now one of seven countries making up the list of Muslim-majority countries banned from sending immigrants to the United States for three months.

When Trump signed that executive order and banned so many countries in the Middle East, it hit home in a way that made me want to get out there on twitter and made me want to say things in a classroom that I typically dont," Alexander, a math teacher at Asheville School, said.

Alexander pulled the passport he had as a child when he came to the United States. The picture of him with huge brown eyes looking up at the camera is one that reminds him of the children now, the ones who may be coming with their parents to the United States, hoping for new lives only to be denied entry.

This is what's happening to my family, my friends of my family. If we were in 1983, we wouldnt have been allowed to come. I would have have been one of those kids that was stopped at the airport and sent back home.

Mohammad Iqbal, a senior at Asheville School, was born in Saudi Arabia but is a U.S. citizen. He and his good friend and fellow high school senior Umit Muradi are Muslim. Muradi was born in Queens, New York, and is a U.S. citizen, as well.

I have a couple of friends that are from areas such as Libya and Syria that have family members impacted by all this, Muradi said,

Iqbal plans to fly home for spring break and wonders if the country he was born in could be added to the list of banned countries.

Im kind of scared about that, Iqbal said. I dont think he (Trump) would because of the oil.

Despite what is happening, Muradi, who is on a scholarship at the school, said he's proud to be an American. He said his father works day and night as an Uber driver in New York to support his family.

Despite all that is going on, this is one of the greatest countries in the world," Muradi said. "The amount of opportunities given here makes it worth it."

Read more from the original source:
Muslim students, Asheville teacher from Libya react to ban - WLOS