By Matthew Liptak
Contributing Writer
Amir Hosseini is a 41-year old family man with a wife, 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. The soft-spoken, upbeat Baldwinsville resident with an easy laugh shares a lot in common with many of his neighbors. He likes to go to the park in his off hours with his kids to kick the soccer ball around in good weather, go shopping and explore the area.
But he and his family are different from most of their neighbors in one way: They’re from Iran.
The Hosseinis immigrated to America early in 2016. Amir came to seek a better job and more opportunity for his young family. He has a green card. They landed in Baldwinsville to be with other family who had already settled here.
The new travel ban in the United States has put a hold on one of the Baldwinsville family’s newly found freedoms in America — free travel.
“We are thinking about going to Canada, because my cousin lives in Toronto, but the travel ban may mean that when I cross the border into Canada I might not be able to get back in again,” Amir Hosseini said. “I wanted to go to Toronto because I heard it was a nice town. I’ve thought about it. It means we must stay here forever? The government says you can’t go out. You must stay in Syracuse all the time? Why? Am I in a prison?”
Hosseini was half-joking as he met with the Messenger at that most universal of all American icons, McDonald’s, but there was an incredulous tone to his voice. He had brought his family halfway around the world to start fresh, only to find the America he dreamed about is cutting back on freedoms for immigrants like him.
“I think the president is very tough,” he said. “He’s tough on foreigners. He’s right about the illegal persons. Illegal is illegal. But when you are a legal resident and have the right to work and the right to live, what is the problem?”
Hosseini had a career in computer coding in Iran before he left. He came from the city of Mashhad, a community of almost 3 million in the northeast corner of Iran. He was expecting to find America to be the land of opportunity, but so far all he has found is part-time work.
“Before I came here, I was hoping I wouldn’t have any problems here,” he said. “But no, now I have a lot of problems.”
Hosseini works hard to keep food on the table for his family, but has struck out in his attempts so far to find another coding job. But he remains hopeful.
“In general this is the country where you can improve,” he said. “You get the opportunity to improve. If you have talent, if you have experience you can go to college. I think it’s good.”
Hosseini is not as optimistic about the deteriorating relationship between his home country and the United States.
“President Trump is tough, and the government of Iran is tough too. He said. “I don’t think they’ll have a good relationship. For nearly 40 years there’s been a disconnection between the countries.”
He is committed to taking one day at a time and not worrying too much about the future, especially on matters he believes best left to politicians. Hosseini believes the American dream is the same as that of people everywhere — to have a good job and a comfortable place to live. The world is more unified than it is divided, in his view.
“I say everyplace the sky is blue,” he said.
