Over the weekend, airports across the country were filled with protests against an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump that restricts immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries - Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Saturday night, Gelar Budidarma, a Muslim NASCAR fan in Bandung, Indonesia - the country with the largest population of Muslim citizens - reached out to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Twitter about the situation. At one point Budidarma expressed that he feels “uncomfortable in situation right now.”
NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver responded.
my fam immigrated from Germany in 1700s escaping religious persecution. America is created by immigrants.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) January 29, 2017
I would too! I can't imagine how that feels.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) January 29, 2017
In June 2015, Earnhardt and then girlfriend Amy Reimann embarked on a trip to Germany to visit the area where his family originated from in 1744.
The trip culminated in Earnhardt proposing to Reimann in the Lutheran church his family attended before it immigrated to what would eventually become the United States of America.