"Of course everyone's disappointed. At the end of the day, it hurts everybody. It hurts not only us, but it hurts America as a whole, as a nation, said Omar, who runs the Afghan Bazaar women's clothing shop in Little Kabul. People come here for opportunity, safety, they want some sort of refuge. Immigrants, they've always made America stronger. It's a loss for everyone."
"Born in Afghanistan, Omar has lived in the U.S. since the 1980s, she said, and identifies with some of the earlier families who emigrated because of the Soviet occupation during the Soviet-Afghan War. She said she was not surprised Trump enacted a new ban, having previously said he would. But the ban's effects are still widespread, she said. I imagine there's thousands of other Afghans who have family that want to come here and they can't, Omar said."
The Trump administration expanded a travel ban to include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The ban bars citizens from those nations and has generated fear, frustration, and disruption within immigrant communities. Fremont's Centerville neighborhood, known as Little Kabul, hosts many Afghan residents and businesses and serves as a cultural hub for Afghan-Americans. The city received waves of refugees after the armed conflict between the U.S. and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. G. Omar, owner of the Afghan Bazaar women's clothing shop, described widespread disappointment and noted many Afghans have family unable to come to the U.S.; one cousin has been trying for months to leave Afghanistan with his family. The ban affects families, local businesses, and the broader sense of safety and opportunity in immigrant enclaves.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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