Albuquerque refugees speak out about travel ban

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “I don't know what's going to happen. What is next?” Rana Said, a refugee from Baghdad, told us.

Uncertainty looms over those affected by President Donald Trump's pending travel ban. Said sought asylum after war reached Baghdad. Her status is pending. She says she is unable to see her family she left behind for the fear she would not be able to return to the United States. “The reason I stayed here is because it's really so difficult to go back,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., says the travel ban made the country less secure. “It also gave ISIS an amazing propaganda bonanza. They have literally been able to say 'Look. I told you so. America hates all Muslims,” Heinrich said.

Heinrich held a meeting with immigrants and refugees on Saturday, to hear their unique story of how the ban changed their lives.

“You begin to build your goals and you begin to dream and you set your future here and suddenly something stops you from dreaming,” Said told us. “I think they put a real human face on what was a terribly constructed policy,” Heinrich said.

Heinrich added that many of the international students coming to schools in the United States want to be engineers, math and science professionals -- providing skills that are in need in America.

“These are exactly the people that can make America stronger, and to turn them away is just fool-hearted,” Heinrich said.