As the only Muslim who is a principle owner in the NFL, and as an immigrant himself, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan has a unique perspective on President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban to seven nations in the Middle East.
Khan arrived in the United States as a Pakistani immigrant back in 1967, earned his degree in engineering before developing a car parts business that helped turn him into a billionaire. Along the way, he also became a citizen, and what he sees happening now doesn’t represent the America he grew to know and love.
“The bedrock of this country are immigration and really a great separation between church and state,” Mr. Khan, 66, said in Houston, the site of Sunday’s Super Bowl (h/t Ken Belson of the New York Times). “Even for the country, it’s not good,” he added, explaining that he thought the order could deny entry to some of “the tens of thousands of people who can contribute to the making of America.”
Additionally, Khan said that this is “kind of a sobering time for somebody like me,” while voicing his hope that the court system will continue to stand against President Trump’s executive order. He also said he understands why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stayed out of this conversation, noting it could come across as “grandstanding.”
Khan’s is a measured, thoughtful approach to opposing President Trump’s executive order, which temporarily (90 days) keeps citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia from immigrating to the United States.