Tuesday, January 31, 2017
YOUNGSTOWN
Although he grew up in Saudi Arabia, Youngstown State University senior Abdullah Khalil, 23, thinks of Youngstown as his second home.
And despite President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, Khalil, who is Muslim, is at ease knowing that YSU is looking out for him and the university’s entire 315-student international population.
“President Tressel did a great job sending an email to all international students, kind of calming us down,” said Khalil, who is president of YSU’s International Student Organization. “The university is standing with us, not against us.”
YSU President Jim Tressel was one of numerous Mahoning Valley voices to respond Monday to the Trump administration’s announcement Friday declaring a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority countries (Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen), temporary suspension of the U.S. refugee resettlement program and indefinite halt of Syrian refugees entering the country.
In an email sent out campuswide Monday morning, Tressel wrote: “Given the events of the weekend regarding President Trump’s executive order on immigration, we wanted to take a moment this morning to assure all of our international students, faculty and staff that our International Programs Office is prepared to provide any assistance that may be needed.”
The university was in the process Monday of reaching out to the seven international students from the countries from which travel is restricted.
“First and foremost, we are making sure they are staying in status. All of these students are here legally ... and we’re making sure they fulfill all the necessary legal requirements they have to fulfill their visa status,” said Nate Myers, YSU’s associate provost for international and global initiatives.
Also, he said, the university is offering advice about travel plans and encouraging students to seek counseling services if needed.
Although Khalil is not personally affected by the restrictions, he said the response from the university was comforting, especially since he feels responsible for the students in his organization who might be affected.
Khalil first came to the Youngstown area at age 16 as an exchange student at Boardman High School. He said that while he understands the need for safety, he disagrees with the way the Trump administration addressed the issue.
“I just don’t like the way, or the method, Mr. Trump used,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s breaking the first civil right. [It’s] discrimination.”
Khalil said overall he feels safe and welcome in this area.
“I just want the community to understand that we are not all the same,” he said. “There are good Muslims, there are bad Muslims. There are good Christians, there are bad Christians.”
Also in disagreement with the travel ban is Ismael Mohamed, 30, of Boardman, a Syrian immigrant who became a naturalized U.S. citizen last week. Mohamed, originally from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said he has lived in the U.S. for several years and is a student at YSU.
“I understand they want to make this country safe, but the way they implement their policy is completely wrong,” he said in a Facebook exchange with The Vindicator. “It’s not about the safety or the security of this country, it’s about paranoia, fear and hatred.”
Mohamed said he entered the U.S. through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program – a process he described as “long” – through which he became a legal permanent resident.
“I always believe, this country, it’s been always the land of immigrants, and this country stood on its feet by the huge distributions of immigrants here in [the] United States,” he said.
Also speaking out in support of refugees Monday was the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
“The fact that there are now over 65 million people in the world displaced from their homes remains one of the biggest challenges of our time and calls out for a generous response from the international world community of which we are a part,” the diocese said in a statement. “The Diocese of Youngstown Catholic Charities still plans to do its part once the moratorium is lifted and continues preparations to receive 50 refugees for resettlement here.”
Atty. David Betras, managing partner of Betras, Kopp & Harshman, announced Monday that his law firm will represent those affected by the immigration ban at no cost.
“We recognize that the manner in which the ban was issued and implemented has sown chaos, disrupted lives and placed people in very serious danger,” said Betras, who is also the Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman. “Because the stakes are so high, we’re obligated as both attorneys and Americans to represent those impacted by the ban regardless of their ability to pay.”
To arrange a consultation regarding the ban, call Betras, Kopp & Harshman at 330-746-8484 or 800-457-2889.
Reached for comment by The Vindicator, Michael Zetts, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said, “We haven’t received any calls from anyone directly affected, but we have gotten a lot of calls from constituents outraged by the executive order.”
Ryan’s office announced that the congressman signed on as an original co-sponsor of the “Statue of Liberty Values Act,” legislation “aimed at stopping President Trump’s use of executive orders to ban immigration from Muslim-majority countries, and halt the U.S. refugee resettlement program,” according to a news release.
The bill would prohibit resources authorized by Congress for any federal agency from being used to carry out Trump’s executive order.
“We cannot allow President Trump’s ill-conceived, dangerous executive order to put our national security and the lives of these innocent refugees at risk,” Ryan said.
Staff writer David Skolnick contributed to this report