Burdens on Arab Americans intensified under the Trump administration

Evidence

Yet it’s also undeniable that the extra burdens placed on young Arabs and Muslims a decade ago are not easing but piling up. Ten years ago, Lina saw Syria as a haven for Iraqis. Now Syria, Rasha’s birthplace, is its own tragedy. And the difficulties aren’t reserved for overseas wars, either. Muslim Americans as a whole are deeply worried about their fates under the Trump administration. A Yemeni American friend of mine is today separated from her husband directly due to Trump’s Muslim ban. Another friend recently watched her father, who lived in the United States for almost forty years as a successful businessman and father of four, be deported to Jordan, a victim of the Trump administration’s merciless immigration policy. Muslim kids are currently four times more likely to be bullied at school than the general population. A fifth of the American Muslim population is making plans to leave the country “if it becomes necessary.” Yasmin, who always finds a reason for optimism even under the direst of circumstances, told me that she cried the night Donald Trump was elected. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1012

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s earlier chapters tracking these same individuals, and to broader literature on Muslim ban policy impacts and minority survival planning (e.g., Parable of the Sower’s ‘making plans to leave’ contingency mentality).