Katy Kargosha recently went to Iran on a four-hour mission – to rescue a pug dog that was left on the side of a Tehran highway. Though Ms. Kargosha is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, she still worried about the situation, especially in light of the Supreme Court affirming parts of the Travel Ban which involves six Muslim-majority countries including Iran. “I was sure they were going to ask, ‘Why did you go to Iran for four hours?’” says Ms. Kargosha, AKA The Pug Queen. “I was worried I’d get in trouble. I was worried about the dog if they kept me for a thousand questions.”
But the story ends happily, and both the pug and rescuer were allowed to enter into the U.S. without a problem. The Los Angeles Times makes the point that the dog’s rescue illustrates “the anxiety that accompanies traveling to Iran in the Trump era.”
Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, sees the sad irony. “It’s astonishing that you have a greater chance of coming to the United States if you are a dog than if you are a relative of an American citizen.”
