Britain’s four-time Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah has expressed his concern over US president Donald Trump’s order that could make his re-entry into the United States difficult.
The 33-year-old was born in Somalia but currently lives in Oregon, USA. The excutive order passed by Trumps bans Somali nationals, among others, from travelling to the US.
“It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children daddy might not be able to come home,” Farah wrote on his Facebook page. “On 1 January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27 January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien,” he added.
“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.”
Farah said Trump’s policy came from a place of ignorance and prejudice, adding that his ownstory was an example of what can happen when “you follow policies of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.”
Farah had moved to Britain at the age of eight. The executive order placed a 90-day travel ban for nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
He is currently training in Ethiopia as part of a camp for the World Championships in August. He was planning to return to the US any time in the next month.
While Farah no longer holds a Somali passport, the athlete grew concerned over news reports trickling out of the US.