Kinan Azmeh, a Syrian clarinettist who has lived in the US legally for 16 years and acquired a green card three years ago, has been left unsure if he will be allowed to return to the country he calls home.
Azmeh, 40, was given permission to immigrate to the US on the grounds of his “extraordinary” musical talent, and recently toured with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. However, after Donald Trump issued an order on Friday (27 January) that all citizens of Syria and six other Muslim-majority nations were to be denied entry, his future looks unsure.
“I have my apartment. You know, 16 years is not a short time, you accumulate lots of stuff,” he told Associated Press. “But what is not replaceable is all the friends who are incredibly supportive.”
Azmeh is currently in Beirut on tour but plans to return home later this week.
Meanwhile, several other musicians have spoken out about Trump’s executive order. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong wrote on Instagram: “The executive orders Trump is signing feels like a vendetta. Trump is not only taking out his revenge on the people who protested him, but also the average American that just didn’t vote for him.”
Speaking at the Producers Guild of America awards, John Legend, a frequent critic of Trump, said: “Los Angeles is the home of so many immigrants, so many creative people, so many dreamers. Our America is big, it is free, and it is open to dreamers of all races, all countries, all religions. Our vision of America is directly antithetical to that of President Trump. I want to specifically tonight reject his vision and affirm that America has to be better than that.”
