Refugee Restrictions Hit Home In Nashville’s ‘Little Kurdistan’

Stories are beginning to emerge of Iraqis bound for Nashville who are held up by President Trump’s executive order restricting travel from some Muslim-majority nations. Nashville has one of the largest Kurdish populations in the U.S.

According to the
Agence France Presse, a family of five was stopped from boarding an EgyptAir plane in Cairo and was forced to fly back to Erbil, which is in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. 51-year-old Fuad Sharef told the AFP he was headed to Nashville under a special immigrant visa. The pharmaceutical industry manager said he had done work for the United States aid organization.

“I had sold my house, my car, my furniture. I resigned from work and so did my wife. I took my children out of school,” he said. “For a decision like this to come out and be implemented immediately, and against whom? Against a valid visa holder. I put my life at risk, working with the Americans at a time that it could have gotten you killed.”

Leaders in Nashville’s Kurdish community say there are a number of green card holders now stuck in Iraq. They plan to join a protest scheduled for Sunday afternoon outside the officers of Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker on West End Ave.

Fort Campbell Connection

Some of the first Iraqis held up by President Trump’s executive order had a Middle Tennessee connection. One of them
had been a translator for the 101st Airborne in Iraq.

These men risked their lives for years to keep our troops safe. One was with the 101st Airborne. This is no way to treat our allies.— Jim Cooper (@repjimcooper)
January 28, 2017

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Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who was traveling with his wife and three children, said he was “directly targeted twice for his association with the U.S. Armed Forces,” according to the Independent.

According to legal documents, 53-year-old Darweesh began working as an interpreter for the 101st Airborne in Baghdad and Mosul shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

He was released from Kennedy Airport after 19 hours. He
told The Times he was thankful for the people who helped him: “This is the humanity, this is the soul of America,” he said. “This is what pushed me to move, leave my country and come here.”