Somalia-born UK athlete Mo Farah troubled by Trump’s travel ban

On Sunday, Jan. 29, 2015, Mo Farah posted a message on his Facebook page that began: “On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien. ” (Photo from his Facebook page)

LONDON — Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah says US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy “seems to have made me an alien” and fears he may not be able to return to his US home.

Farah is a British citizen who was born in Somalia, one of seven predominantly Muslim nations subject to the executive order signed by Trump that temporarily bans entry to the United States.

Farah currently is training in Ethiopia. His family is based in Portland, Oregon.

“It’s deeply troubling,” the 33-year-old Farah said in a statement on his Facebook page, “that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home — to explain why the President has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.”

Britain’s Press Association is reporting that Farah and his representatives are trying to establish whether the fact he was born in Somalia will now present a problem for him when he wishes to return to the United States. Farah does not have dual nationality or hold a Somalian passport.

Farah moved to Britain from Somalia at the age of 8 and is now regarded as one of the greatest-ever athletes in British sport after winning the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and at the 2013 and ’15 world championships. He also won the 5,000 meters gold at the 2011 world championships and was recently given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

“On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien,” Farah said in his statement.

“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.”