Iranian Americans fight back against discriminatory visa law

Dec 22, 2015

Iranians in Diaspora , Politics

The five million strong diasporic Iranian community is now facing discrimination in light of the new U.S. legislation (H.R. 158) that clamps visa restrictions on people who travel to Iran. Although Iranian Americans were both victims and life savers in recent San Bernardino terrorist attacks (and not perpetrators, see news link), the politically motivated law, backed by the pro-Netanyahu lobby in the US Congress, used San Bernardino attacks to justify discrimination against Dual Citizenship Iranians and to impede joint Obama, European Union efforts to normalize relations with Iran.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry has been under attack by Republicans after he wrote his Iranian counterpart on Saturday to assure him the visa changes approved by Congress last week won't undermine business opportunities in Iran or violate the terms of the nuclear agreement between global powers and Tehran in July. Mr. Kerry said the administration was exploring ways to ensure visitors to Iran aren't unfairly blocked from entering the U.S.

According to an article on The Hill "What is remarkable to many Iranian Americans is that that there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that any individuals who travel to Iran have become radicalized or committed acts of terror. On the contrary, most take with them a deep appreciation of American values and beliefs. Moreover, the Islamic State is a sworn enemy of Iranians, making the bill doubly egregious in discriminating against the one American ethnic minority group that is even more removed from the terrorists than others. To place a group of American dual citizens into a de facto suspicious category while leaving out other dual citizens of the many countries that ISIS operates in is ineffective policy at best and highly discriminatory at worst."

According to the 2010 US Census data, the estimated one million Iranian Americans are among the most educated and affluent immigrant populations in America. A petition on the White House website (link) is now approaching about 50% of its goal of 100,000 signatures to have President Obama review the discriminatory law. People still have time to join the petition. Community and advocacy groups such as NIAC (link) and PAAIA (link) have also been involved in publicity and lobbying efforts to minimize the impact of the discriminatory law on Iranian Americans.

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