'It Hurts My Family'

This interview is part of Broadly's Voices Against the Ban series. You can read more of these voices here.

Broadly: Why do you oppose Trump's immigration restrictions?

Kaoutar, 18, New York: It hurts my family. I'm not directly from the seven countries he's banning, but my relatives are in Morocco, which is a majority-Muslim country. My family in Morocco is really poor. For example, my cousin is 26. He graduated college when he was 22, but he hasn't been able to find a job anywhere at all and he's too poor to travel. He was planning on coming here to stay with us and attend school in the city, but his passport was denied because he went to Turkey once for school and it's well documented. He went to school for around six months in Turkey and because he has a Turkish stamp on his passport, he can't come here. He literally went to the embassy and they straight up said, "No, you're not getting accepted because of this stamp on your passport." I'm not directly from the countries affected, but I know a lot of people who are, and I have a friend who's from Libya. She hasn't been able to return to her country and none of her relatives can come visit her. I know a lot of people who have been affected. A lot of my parents' Syrian friends were counting on their families to come here and that's not a reality for them anymore.

Are you afraid it might extend to Morocco?

Yeah, I actually really am. I mean, I know it won't affect me because I'm a citizen, but a lot of my family who are really poor— I don't know.

This interview has been edited and condensed.