President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration Friday hit Hawaii’s Muslim community like a slap in the face.
“I was shocked,” said Safa Ahmed, 25, a public-health student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “At first I didn’t think it was real, but then it hit me that this is what (Trump) said he would do. It’s pretty scary stuff right now.”
Like millions of Muslims across the country, some followers of Islam here say they are feeling singled out, worried about travel and safety, and concerned about what could become an escalating anti-Muslim sentiment in America.
While the planned three- to-four-month ban applies to immigrants and refugees only from seven predominately Muslim nations, that’s not exactly reassuring, they say, especially with talk of extending the ban to other countries.
Abdul-Karim Khan, assistant professor of history at Leeward Community College, said his family spent the weekend on edge wondering about what might happen to his son-in-law, who is a legal U.S. resident but is working at a university in Pakistan and expecting to return to Hawaii soon.
“We were really worried what would happen to him,” Khan said.
There was initial confusion about whether residents with legal papers would be allowed back into the United States. Visitors and refugees were being detained, and there were additional reports of some with valid green cards and visas being refused re-entry.
But Khan said his family felt better after White House officials clarified Sunday that lawful, permanent U.S. residents would not be barred by the order.
Even so, Khan said he and others remain troubled by visions of 1930s Europe, when Jews were persecuted, and the 1940s, when the Japanese were rounded up in America.
“It’s easy to blame all Mexicans and Muslims,” he said.
However, Khan said there’s no need for Muslims to panic. He said this is a land of laws, and he believes in a governmental process that deals with and mollifies inequity.
His advice for Muslims in Hawaii?
“Don’t do any dumb things,” he said. “Don’t blow up the situation. There are ways to deal with it, legally, peacefully and through the system.”
Tamara Albertini, a University of Hawaii-Manoa professor who runs an undergraduate certificate program in Islamic studies, said several students have come to her with worries about travel and the future.
One student who was planning to go to a wedding overseas might not go now, she said. Two students from Iran expressed bewilderment by the executive order.
“What’s weighing them down is this: We’re being singled out,” she said. “I don’t think anyone’s panicking but there is concern.”
As with others contacted for this story, Esma Arslan, an American-born Muslim whose parents are from Turkey, said she feels grateful she lives in Hawaii.
“Despite what Trump did, I feel safe and protected here. The aloha and the ohana will protect me,” said Arslan, who earned her degree at UH Manoa and now works at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
But Arslan said she remains sad and depressed by Trump’s “unfair and disheartening” actions and the apparent mood of the country in supporting him.
She said she has friends from Iran, Yemen and Somalia who are now hesitant about travel even though they are naturalized citizens, have green cards and have lived in the United States for some 30 years.
“I understand the need for national security. But if you’ve got an evil spirit, you will do evil things. This will not stop terrorists from coming into the country. To think you can stop it is ridiculous,” she said.
Arslan, who normally wears a hijab, said she fears that Trump’s order will create more opportunities for discrimination, even in Hawaii.
Ahmed agreed. “I already have a hard time going through airports. This will make it even harder,” she said.
In an effort to increase awareness about Muslims, Arslan’s girls group at the Muslim Association of Hawaii mosque plans to hold a peaceful event at UH Manoa on Feb. 10 to pass out pamphlets featuring refugee stories as well as information on Islam. It will occur at McCarthy Mall from noon to
2 p.m.
