MP Pouria Amirshahi finally allowed to stay in the United States

The decision was shocking. For the first time in 240 years of relations between the United States and France, this Thursday, a French parliamentarian saw his application for residence rejected by the US administration . The matter is now settled. In a press release issued this Friday morning, June 20, Pouria Amirshahi, the member of parliament from the Green and Socialist group, announced that he had finally received a call from the consulate informing him that he was reversing his decision. His visa application has therefore been granted.

The MP will now be able to meet with progressive parliamentarians, intellectuals, journalists, and members of civil society in the North American country to analyze the mechanisms at work under the Trump administration and consider ways to resist (again and again in the face of the invader). Relieved, the elected official thanks " the consular services for having kindly reconsidered the initial refusal decision ," as well as " the Quai d'Orsay for its diligence in avoiding an unfortunate precedent between our two countries ."

The day before, this Thursday, the parliamentarian had protested against this refusal during a press conference organized with the collective of progressive elected officials "La Digue" of which he is the co-founder. "I explained in a very transparent manner the objectives of this trip ," he confided. "The response time was particularly long, then the ministry informed us that the embassy refused my stay ."

Could this be linked to the objectives of La Digue, conceived as an international democratic and humanist response to resist the rise of the far right and neo-fascism ? As part of the project, many elected officials are scheduled to travel to other countries in the hands of authoritarian governments or those threatened with falling into this camp. Senator Mélanie Vogel will soon be traveling to Hungary, MP Tristan Lahais to Italy... and so Pouria Amirshahi almost missed out on traveling to the United States, where he is finally scheduled to arrive this Sunday.

This refusal, although overturned, raises another question: was the parliamentarian refused because of his dual French-Iranian nationality, at a time of renewed tensions between the United States and Iran ? " The request was made before Trump decreed that Iranian nationals were undesirable, but I am neither an Iranian national nor listed as a friend of the mullahs ," Pouria Amirshahi defended herself.