When Donald Trump’s revised travel ban was implemented on 29 June, Holly Dagres wanted to express her solidarity with those affected.

The new rules meant citizens of six Muslim-majority countries were not allowed to enter the US without a “credible claim of a bona fide” or close relationship with a person or entity already in the US.

According to state department guidelines, the newly excluded groups included grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins of people in the US.

Dagres, an Iranian-American analyst and commentator on Middle East affairs who lives in Jerusalem, tweeted a photo of herself with her Iranian grandmother, who died in 2013, under the hashtag #GrandparentsNotTerrorists.

“Then a friend of mine started the Instagram account Banned Grandmas to keep the momentum and remind people that this ban is ongoing and ridiculous,” Dagres said. “I curate the photos, she posts and captions them.”

Since its launch on 30 June, with the same photo of Dagres and her grandmother, the account has made waves. The photo has been retweeted by the US comedian Sarah Silverman and Jane Sanders, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie.



Dagres said she had no idea her photo would start a trend.

“The travel ban is absurd and unjustified on so many levels,” she said. “This concept of ‘bona fide relationship’ is bogus. Close family doesn’t actually apply to blood ties.

“Naturally, there have some been negative, and at times racist and Islamophobic, responses to the account and hashtag [but] the overall response has been positive. A lot of people have shared their frustration with the travel ban.”

The ban does not even achieve its stated aim of tackling terrorism, Dagres said. “Not one of the hijackers on September 11 were nationals belonging to the six travel ban countries,” she said. “A national from the travel ban countries hasn’t committed a terrorist act on US soil since 1980.

“This is exactly why grandparents became the perfect face of the hashtag and account. Everyone loves their grandparents and what they represent: traditions and history. I don’t think anyone has ever heard of a 95-year-old Farhad or 82-year-old Maryam committing an act of terrorism.”