How does Trump’s refugee ban affect people’s lives? Two recent videos document the real impact. They take the viewer behind the partisan policy debates, behind factual distortions, and behind the spin, to demonstrate how lives have been altered by decisions made in Washington DC.
“Starting a New Life in America: A Syrian Refugee Story,” follows the Abdo family of war-torn Aleppo who gained entry to the U.S. during the Obama presidency. Filmed and produced by a young Syrian-American, the video takes us into the Abdo home, where we learn of the family’s hopes for the future and of their deep gratitude to America and their successful adjustment to life in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The second video tells the story of Clemson University PhD graduate Nazanin Zinouri, an Iranian who found herself caught in the chaos and uncertainty of Trump’s disastrous first refugee ban. Zinouri, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for seven years, was taken off her return flight from Dubai and denied re-entry into the U.S. after traveling to Iran to visit her family. Following a public campaign on her behalf, which included the advocacy of Senator Lindsay Graham, Zinouri was allowed to return to her life and her home in South Carolina.