Brown: Trump is protecting you from this man’s 67-year-old aunt

Follow @MarkBrownCSTOn the broad spectrum of injustices created by President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, Sean Tehrani’s grievance is on the minor end.

He’d be the first to tell you that.

“Compared to these people, my story is nothing,” Tehrani told me, meaning the thousands of refugees left in limbo by Trump calling a temporary halt to the U.S. refugee relocation program.

Yet at the same time, the Lincoln Park restaurant owner’s story is illustrative of the many unseen impacts of Trump’s orders on regular people in the name of keeping us safe from terrorists.

In Tehrani’s case, we are being kept safe by barring his 67-year-old aunt from coming here from Iran.

She was scheduled to arrive at O’Hare International Airport last weekend, Tehrani said.

Follow @MarkBrownCSTBut when she went to the airport in Tehran, the airline informed her she would not be allowed to board the plane.

The aunt was prevented from traveling here under the provision in Trump’s order banning immigrants and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries — including Iran — from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Tehrani said his aunt was planning to enter the country on an immigrant visa that had taken 15 years to obtain through an application process that, if not sufficiently exhaustive to suit everyone, was certainly exhausting.

“They asked for everything except blood,” said Tehrani, who helped her apply.

The visa was approved Dec. 22, granting her permission to travel here until Feb. 11.

The visa would have allowed his aunt to remain in the country on a permanent basis. He said she is planning to move here to be closer to her sister, Tehrani’s mother.

Tehrani and his mother are naturalized U.S. citizens.

He came to Chicago from Iran as a 15-year-old boy in 1986 after first spending a few years in France.

“I had to Ieave Iran because of the situation after the revolution,” said Tehrani, now 46.

Some of you will remember the Iranian revolution. The U.S.-backed Shah had been deposed seven years earlier. Ayatollah Khomeini was running the country.

Tehrani’s family sent him abroad to avoid serving in the Iranian army. Iran was fighting a bloody war at the time with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

In Chicago, Tehrani attended Sullivan High School in Rogers Park and took a job as a busboy. He soon moved up to working in the kitchen.

Basil Leaf Café on Clark Street is the fourth restaurant he has owned. He said he sold the first three.

Tehrani is invested in his community. Others attest to his charitable work. He’s currently involved in raising money for the Chicago Polar Plunge, which benefits Special Olympics.

“This is home to me. There’s no going anywhere,” he said.

Like most immigrants, he is grateful for his life in the U.S.

“I appreciate this country for everything it’s given me,” he said.

But he also believes he’s done his part to return the favor.

And that’s why he feels betrayed when the U.S. government treats his family with extra suspicion because it comes from a Muslim country.

“I’m still a second-class citizen,” he told me. “Iranians have contributed so much to this country. I’ve contributed so much to this city. I shouldn’t be treated this way.”

Tehrani said his family has never been religious.

“I’ve been agnostic all my life. I’ve been to more churches than mosques. I don’t understand this,” he said.

Tehrani said his aunt, an accountant by profession, has taken the setback more in stride than he has.

He said she was able to pay a visit to the U.S. 16 years ago.

“She absolutely fell in love with the country,” he said.

I hope she still can recognize the place by the time she gets back here.

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