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Local woman says travel ban is hurting families

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Zahra Khan will be quick to tell you that family is an important part of her life.

"I actually lived the first 10 years of my life with my grandparents," she recalled. 

Now the attorney and mother of three have her own family, but she still makes time for the people who raised her. But Zahra admits she doesn't know when she'll get to see her family next.

"I now do not have the freedom to be able to invite my grandparents to come and stay here with us for a month or two months," Khan said. 

That's because Zahra is originally from Iran, one of the 7 countries listed on the U.S. travel ban.

"My grandma is very ill, we had all been looking and planning for that trip and my first reaction is that I was scared and I was angry," she said. 

After Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling Zahra says things have gotten worse.

"I think this really prevents you from being able to live life with religious liberty," she said. 

She told WPTV fears of being an American Muslim in public have grown in her community and in her home.

"To see my children that are so young have this inhibition about speaking or vocalizing the fact that they're Muslim," she said. 

But she wants people to know that she and her family are no different from anyone else. 

"If I'm a citizen just like you are or anybody else is I should have the freedom to be able to travel and do things and see family members and do what I want to do just like anybody else can," Khan said.