An Iraq-born Conservative MP today warned Donald Trump he was playing into the hands of Daesh by banning millions of Muslims from entering America
Nadhim Zahawi, who came with his parents to the UK from Baghdad when he was 9 years old, said the US President’s new immigration rules were “counterproductive” to his long-stated desire to defeat Islamic extremism.
Zahawi is one of the millions now banned from entering the US as he has dual Iraqi/British citizenship, and this morning expressed concerns about how he would get to visit his twin sons who are studying at Princeton University in America.
But speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Zahawi defended Prime Minister Theresa May’s initial reluctance to condemn the ban during a testy press conference in Turkey, instead praising her for being “cautious”.
May faced a barrage of criticism for not speaking out against the policy, and in the early hours of Sunday morning Downing Street issued a statement saying the Prime Minister does “not agree” with the ban.
This morning, Zahawi, who is MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon, said: “I don’t think I’ve felt discriminated against probably since little when school when kids were very cruel.
“For the first time in my life last night I felt discriminated against. It’s demeaning. It’s sad.”
Trump yesterday signed an Executive Order stopping all refugees entering the US for four months, while those from Syria are banned indefinitely.
He has also stopped all travel from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days.
As the ban affects those based on their country of origin, Brits including Zahawi and Somalia-born Sir Mo Farah are currently not able to travel to the US.