The first time Katreen Boustani felt anti-Syrian sentiments was in kindergarten.
Her then-best friend approached her during class and said something that Boustani still remembers almost 15 years later.
“You should probably watch out for your dad because he might be a terrorist,” Boustani recalls the friend telling her.
Six years old at the time, Boustani said she felt hurt and confused and went home to tell her parents.
Boustani, now an IU sophomore, is the child of two Syrians. She was raised in Carmel, Indiana, but she has extended family still in Syria and some who came to the United States as refugees.
Recent political actions have not favored Syrian immigrants. President Trump’s executive order issued on Jan. 27 barred entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria indefinitely.
It also suspended the arrival and resettlement of Syrian refugees.
However, Trump’s travel ban has been a topic of national debate, especially since it was temporarily halted by a Seattle judge Feb. 3.
Boustani woke up the Friday Trump signed the executive order, turned her computer on and was listening to Morning Edition on NPR. When she heard about the travel ban, she immediately called her mom.
“I was really devastated,” Boustani said. “I was so upset. She kinda reassured me that this was unconstitutional and just couldn’t stay. Luckily, things are moving forward with it. I’m happy with all the backlash it has gotten.”
However, she said she was especially disappointed with the ban on Syrian refugees.
“I’m lucky that the people that I am especially close to in my family are here and could get here basically in time,” Boustani said. “Thinking about what could have happened if they were too late is kind of terrifying. I feel for all the families who have to deal with that.”
Even with the travel ban directed at Syrians and the national attention on anti-immigrant sentiments, Boustani said she feels supported by the communities she’s a part of here at IU.
Boustani, an informatics major, is a member of Theta Phi Alpha sorority and is pursuing a certificate in global human diversity.
IU freshman Lily Jervis has been Boustani’s friend since high school and said Trump’s election and all his supporters are scary to people who weren’t born in the U.S. or have parents who weren’t born there.
“In this political climate, it is really easy for immigrants or children of immigrants to feel like they don’t belong,” Jervis said. “Just treating someone with respect and being friends with them and showing them that they’re loved is really important.”
Boustani’s father, Malaz Boustani, was reminded of this last week at a Starbucks in Indianapolis. Malaz, physician and scientist, accidentally grabbed another man’s coffee.
Malaz said the man replied something like, “Keep your dirty hands off my cup and go back to where you came from.”
But immediately after the incident, two other people stepped in to support Malaz and told him to ignore the man.
Malaz said it was two amazing people providing support against one man’s remarks.
“That was the beauty about this country,” Malaz said.
When Malaz first heard about the ban, he was worried that Katreen and her younger brother would be treated like second class citizens. She said she took it personally at first but overreacted.
But, both Katreen and Malaz said the travel ban has brought about more support for immigrants.
“I am fascinated by the number of, really, strangers who are stepping in on social media,” Malaz said. “Ironically, I saw more empathy and more support than over the past five years over the civil war in Syria.”
Katreen said it’s been nice to see the number of people who have no relation to the refugee crisis fighting back.
Katreen said she once thought she didn’t belong in this country but said she has experienced so much support from everyone around her after Trump signed his executive order.
Even more so, Malaz said he sees the conflict over the travel ban as a way to grow as a nation.
“I am one hundred percent sure that this country is the best in the world,” Malaz said. “We will move past this challenge and convert it to an opportunity. We will be stronger because of these hiccups here and there.”
