Iran students with valid visas turned away at US airports and sent home, attorneys say
Since August 2019, more than 15 Iranian students with valid visas have been sent back after arriving at U.S. airports, according to immigration attorneys. More than 20 students in Tehran also weren’t allowed to board flights to the U.S. and many weren’t given a reason why.
The students were held in Boston airports, according to The Los Angeles Times. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that “simply having a valid visa does not guarantee entry into the US.”
“CBP officers make admissibility decisions based on whether an individual can overcome ALL grounds of inadmissibility,” the agency told The Los Angeles Times. It also said there was “no new directive” regarding questioning Iranians with student visas.
Iranian PhD student, Alireza Yazdani, 27, flew to the U.S. to study at Michigan State University and was detained by CBP at Detroit Metro Airport, according to CNN.
CBP told CNN that he was “deemed inadmissible” and Yazdani said he “eventually gave up” after more than six hours of questioning. He’s being sent back to Iran.
Another student from Iran, Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein, 24, was planning on attending Northeastern University and was refused entry when he arrived at the Boston Logan International Airport, CNN reported. A Massachusetts district court judge gave him an emergency stay when he was detained, but he was deported anyway, according to his attorney.
CBP said it was “unaware of the issuance of any court order barring the removal of the subject from the United States,” CNN reported.
The U.S. has been increasingly barring Iranian students from boarding flights to the country and not telling them that their visas had been canceled, The Guardian reported last year.
Mohammad Elmi, 31, said he boarded a flight to Los Angeles on Dec. 13 to join his wife and start a PhD program at UC Santa Barbara, according to The Guardian. He was refused entry once he arrived at the airport.
He was held by CBP and questioned and searched for the next day before he was put on another plane back to Tehran, The Guardian reported.
“They treated me like I was a terrorist,” he told The Guardian.
“I have lost my job. I have lost my money. I have lost everything,” Elmi told The Los Angeles Times. “My wife is in the U.S. We don’t know what we should do. The only solution might be my wife coming back — and destroying her dreams.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Iran students with valid visas turned away at US airports and sent home, attorneys say."