British four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah says US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy “seems to have made me an alien” and fears he may not be able to return to his US home.
Farah, who was born in Somalia, one of seven predominantly Muslim nations subject to the executive order signed by Trump that temporarily bans entry to the United States.
Farah currently is training in Ethiopia. His family is based in Portland, Oregon.
“It’s deeply troubling,” the 33-year-old Farah said in a statement on his Facebook page, “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.”
Britain’s Press Association is reporting that Farah and his representatives are trying to establish whether the fact he was born in Somalia will now present a problem for him when he wishes to return to the United States.
Farah does not have dual nationality or hold a Somalian passport.
Farah moved to Britain from Somalia at the age of eight and is now regarded as one of the country’s greatest-ever athletes.
He won the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and at the 2013 and ’15 world championships.
He also won the 5,000 metres gold at the 2011 world championships and was recently given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.
“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,” Farah said in his statement.
“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.”
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
The uncertainty that current US policy has generated, not least due the haphazard nature of its implementation, has resulted in athletes with connections to Muslim majority nations considering alternatives to the USA. This may prove to be something of a boon for Australia as athletes look for alternative jurisdictions to use as a training base or to further their careers. The extent of this is debatable (unlike education which is likely to see a surge of interest), though there are some sports and training facilities that may benefit as a result.