Olympic champion Mo Farah has spoken out against Donald Trump’s travel and immigration ban that mainly targets Muslim majority countries, revealing that as a British-Somali citizen, he could be directly affected.
The track star was born in Somalia but moved to Britain when he was young to pursue his athletic dreams. Once word of Trump’s travel ban barring citizens of Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Syria from entering the United States, Farah wasted no time voicing his opinion and his concern that he wouldn’t be able to reunite with his family in Oregon, where they have lived for six years.
“On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien,” begins his brief, but touching reaction to the new executive order.
“I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years - working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four children in the place they now call home,” he continued. “Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome. It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home - to explain why the President has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.”
Nike was inspired to respond to Trump’s ban after reading Mo’s social media statement. The company took a firm stance against the new executive order:
You can read Mo’s entire emotional statement below:
Mo has since learned that he will not be affected by the ban since “travelers on British passports were advised that dual citizens were affected only if they were traveling to the United States from one of the seven banned countries,” according to the Washington Post. However, he still stands firmly against the discriminatory order.”We understand from the statement released this evening by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that the executive order will not apply to Mo, and we are grateful to the FCO for urgently clarifying the situation,” a spokesperson for Farah told the BBC. “Mo is relieved that he will be able to return to his family once his current training camp concludes. However, as he said in his earlier statement, he still fundamentally disagrees with this incredibly divisive and discriminatory policy.”
Photo Credit: Mo Farah/Instagram
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