Somali born British track star Sir Mo Farah, who was knighted at the beginning of the year by Queen Elizabeth II, has strongly condemned the ban on immigration implemented by US President Donald J. Trump.
Called by critics as the ‘Muslim ban’ he proposed during campaigning, the US President has signed an order prohibiting immigration from seven Muslim majority countries, including Farah’s birth country of Somalia.
A dual UK-US citizen who lives in the US, Farah not only condemned the ban but expressed worry that he might be unable to travel back to his family in the US under Trump’s ‘ignorant and prejudiced’ ban.
He expressed his fear and dismay in an open letter posted on Facebook. Read below…
“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.
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. 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.
I was welcomed into Britain from Somalia at eight years old and given the chance to succeed and realise my dreams. I have been proud to represent my country, win medals for the British people and receive the greatest honour of a knighthood. My story is an example of what can happen when you follow polices of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.”