Many knew Donald Trump would be a very controversial and unpopular president, but did we think he would really stoop any lower than he already did? Trump’s executive order, the Immigration Ban, had caused uprisings all over the country in towns, cities, and universities, especially. One university, in particular, was at Cal Berkeley where it has been reported that "Some 150 'masked agitators' were responsible for the violence during the otherwise largely peaceful protest of about 1,500 people.” So far, this order, amongst the many others that have come out in the President’s first few weeks in office, has been the most unpopular and most controversial. Students here at Bloomsburg University held a rally in solidarity with the Muslim community two weeks ago, standing with them against the president’s order and using the hashtag #NoBan.
This order suspended new refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia for at least 90 days. Concurrently, Syrian refugees were banned indefinitely. However, in recent days, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against President Trump and his ban, causing a major blow to his administration. The court refused to reinstate the Immigration Ban on the count that it is “unconstitutional.” Trump then furiously tweeted out, “SEE YOU IN COURT. THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” 
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Courtesy of: Buzzfeed
That is what has happened around the country, but I have a more interpersonal story, one that hits close to home for a family right here in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. A story of love and tragedy that had come out of this executive order.
A few weeks ago, students at Bloomsburg University held a rally in solidarity with the Muslim community, standing with them against the president’s order and using the hashtag #NoBan. During the demonstration, a fellow Odyssey Creator, Michael Lamberti, was taking photographs and videos of the demonstration when he was fortunate enough to get an interview with a woman who’s family is directly affected by the immigration ban.
Her son-in-law was an international student who enrolled in Bloomsburg University from Saudi Arabia, an Islamic state. A country in which 15 of the 19 terrorists from the 9/11 attacks hailed from. Her daughter began dating him in 2009.
This alumni graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and following his graduation, he was unable to obtain work here in the United States because he was not a fully registered United States citizen. He and the woman’s daughter got married last November, however, unable to obtain a citizenship even though he has been living in the US for a little less than a decade as well as his inability to obtain a job here in America, he was forced to return to Saudi Arabia.
The woman said that at first, her husband was quite skeptical of their daughter dating an Arab, however, she later proceeded to state that once her husband got to know him and after meeting his family in Washington, D.C., that her husband loves him and will do anything to help him get back to the United States to be with their daughter, his wife. The woman said that because of the travel ban especially and because of his inability to obtain citizenship in the United States, that their daughter has to travel to different countries just to be able to spend a little bit of time with her husband.
The woman’s daughter began working on the immigration process to get him back into the States as well as attempt to get him registered as a permanent United States citizen. After all, the proper paperwork was filled out and all the correct documents were obtained, the woman’s daughter sent all the paperwork to the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security. Despite her best efforts, the government got back to her and said that they will not look over nor discuss his possible return to the US until October of this year (2017).
No matter what your feelings on this matter may be whether you are black, white, yellow, purple, green, blue, Catholic, Islamic, Jewish, Pastafarian, Greek, American, English, Saudi, Syrian, whatever the case may be, we are all humans and we, by nature, can be mean, nasty, hate-filled creatures, but also by nature we can all be loving, caring, and compassionate creatures. We need to start loving one another and instead of looking down on someone because of their race, gender, or creed, show a little compassion. One smile, one kind thought can change the world. So as Bob Marley once said, “Overcome the devils with a thing called love.” As the woman had said in the interview, when you get to know somebody, it really does make a difference. That difference is what's going to change the world.
