Huddled around a small table in the halls of a cavernous Washington concert hall, a group of Afghan girls tweak gears and sprockets on their radio-controlled robot, hoping to best the competition. The plight of the Afghan team had made headlines around the world after it appeared to underscore the negative consequences of stricter visa policies for Muslim countries under Trump. The US leader recently succeeded in passing a limited version of a long-touted travel ban – temporarily barring visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen without a “bona fide” US connection and all refugees - pending a hearing by the Supreme Court.