Donald Trump Wants to Ban Me From My Own Country

The Internet exploded Monday night as Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump announced he wants to bar entry to “all Muslims” trying to enter the United States until the country “figures out exactly what is going on here” in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting. The most optimistic side of me expected to wake up to at least a half-hearted apology Tuesday morning, given the speed and intensity of the backlash, but instead Trump said in defense of his remarks, “I don’t care.”

I couldn’t help thinking about arriving a few weeks ago in the United States, where I was born and spent most of my life, to surprise my family for Thanksgiving. With my mixed family background, and a passport full of Middle Eastern stamps (I’ve been living and working in Beirut and Istanbul for the past year), would I have been allowed into the country — my country — under Trump’s proposed plan?

While security questions are expected for many travelers, what does the future hold for us who have traveled to suspicious countries or have identifying last names?

Under Trump’s plan, would border agents detain the Abdulrahmen and Abdulqaders of the world while those without “Muslim sounding” names, or those who perhaps carry their Muslim lineage on their maternal side, move through unimpeded?

Would the plan affect anyone with even a drop of Muslim blood? Or would it target only the explicitly devout — those unraveling prayer rugs in airport terminals or reading the Qu’ran while waiting at their gate?

Do Sikhs and non-Muslim Arabs — and any others who have qualified as Muslim in the eyes of the bigots — need to be concerned as well? Would anyone who’s simply the wrong shade of brown be turned away?

Does Donald Trump understand that millions of American are practicing Muslims?

Really, I’m curious to know. In a community of more than two billion people, with ethnic backgrounds ranging from Sudan to Iran, and Bosnia to Malaysia, not to mention national backgrounds from every country in the world, how exactly does someone identify a Muslim at an airport these days?

Dark humor and shock aside, it’s important to acknowledge that this is not the first time Donald Trump has suggested radical, not to mention logistically challenging, measures against Muslims in the wake of a possible terrorist attack. Following the Paris attacks in November, Trump considered a database to track all Muslims in the United States.