At least one University of Maryland student is unable to return to the United States following President Trump’s executive order barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
Abubakr Suliman Eltayeb Mohamed Hamid, also called “Biko,” traveled to his home country of Sudan during winter break and is temporarily barred from returning to this university, wrote Fatemeh Keshavarz, the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies director, in an email. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are the seven countries included in the ban.
Hamid is an engineering doctoral student and works as a live-in Arabic language teacher at the Language House, Keshavarz wrote.
University officials are looking into how this executive order might be affecting students and faculty at this university, according to a Sunday statement from university President Wallace Loh.
“The potential for negatively impacting the educational and research missions of our campus is significant,” Loh wrote.
Trump’s travel ban, signed on Friday, also bans refugees for 120 days and bans Syrian refugees indefinitely. Protests broke out over the weekend across the country as people were detained in airports while trying to return to the United States.
In response, several universities such as the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University have warned students and faculty affected by the ban to avoid traveling outside of the United States while it is still unclear if they will be allowed to re-enter.
“I join my colleagues from across the U.S. in an emphatic message of support for [those affected] and their families,” Loh wrote. “It is in America’s national interest that we continue to welcome talented individuals of all nations to study, teach, and do research here and retain America’s global leadership in higher education.”
