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Heartwarming Stories Shared By Immigrants Online

by Eliza Castile
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images News/Getty Images

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order he claimed was designed to prevent domestic terror attacks. But as stories shared by immigrants on Twitter show, the travel ban has proved to be a mess of confusion, with some travelers detained at airports despite having obtained visas or being legal residents. Protests have erupted at airports around the country, beginning on Saturday and continuing into Sunday afternoon.

You can read the full text of the executive order on CNN, but here's the general idea. The ban places an indefinite hold on entry of refugees from Syria, instates a four-month hold on refugees from all other countries, and bars all travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) from entering the United States over the next 90 days. As the Washington Post points out, the order also affects U.S. residents with dual citizenship and green-card holders from these countries who were abroad when the order was signed. It's also worth noting that Trump has made clear his intentions to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, further shutting the country's borders.

On Saturday night, a federal judge in New York blocked part of the ban, and similar actions have begun in federal courts in Virginia and Washington state. But just to drive home that the U.S. should welcome all immigrants — after all, the Pilgrims came to North America fleeing religious persecution — here are 13 stories from immigrants on Twitter showing what the country is truly about.

1A First-Generation College Student

The hashtag #ImAlreadyHome, which began as a suggestion from Huffington Post Latino Voices, is filled with stories like this.

2Rep. Salud Carbajal

Rep. Salud Carbajal, who was born in Mexico, holds a master's degree, served in the U.S. Marine Corps reserve, and now represents the 24th Congressional District of California.

3This Single Mother

According to Twitter user @exploding_girl, her single mother worked to put all of her children through college.

4Marty Martinez

Twitter user @julianelijah's grandfather couldn't have had it easy, but his perseverance is an example to Americans everywhere.

5A Former Field Worker

It's hard to get more American than a story of immigration, manual labor, and working up to earning a master's degree.

6Ayah Bdeir

Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, a TED Fellow, and happens to be a Muslim immigrant to the U.S.

7A Mexican Family

No matter where they're originally from, every family winds up taking a terrible photo when they get together.

8An Artistic Success Story

This Twitter user might not be an immigrant himself, but his grandfather was.

9Iman Abdulmajid

No big deal, Iman is just a world-renowned supermodel. Perhaps you've heard of her?

10Stephanie Beatriz

Stephanie Beatriz was born in Argentina, moved to Texas at the age of three, and now stars in Brooklyn 99.

11Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs actually wasn't an immigrant himself, but his biological father, Abdul Fattah Jandali, came to the U.S. from Syria.

12A Family From Venezuela

Like many on this list, user @Marianaa_Suarez is understandably proud of her father.

13Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas, the founder and CEO of Define American and EmergingUS, says it all.