US-bound migrants blocked from flying to JFK airport

Multiple people have been blocked from boarding flights to the US or clearing customs in the country after Donald Trump signed an executive order banning the entry of nationals from a string of predominantly Muslim countries.

Cairo airport officials reportedly confirmed seven US-bound migrants, six from Iraq and one from Yemen, were prevented from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New York’s JFK airport in the hours after the new president introduced the measure.

The officials said the action on Saturday by the airport was the first since Trump imposed a three-month ban on visa-holders from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The ban also applied to refugees from those same countries, with Syrian refugees indefinitely banned.

The officials told Reuters the seven migrants were escorted to the airport by officials from the UN refugee agency but were stopped from boarding the plane after authorities at Cairo airport contacted their counterparts in JFK airport.

A homeland security spokesman also said on Saturday that green card holders who effectively hold permanent US residency from the seven countries, will be included in the temporary ban.

Ali Abdi, an Iranian with permanent residency in the US, said the measure means he is now in limbo in Dubai. He says he can’t go to Iran because he has been outspoken about human rights violations there, can’t return to the US because of the visa bans, and can’t stay longer in Dubai as his visa will run out.

“I am an Iranian PhD student of anthropology in the US. Doing fieldwork is the defining method of our discipline,” he said. “I left New York on 22 January, two days after he was sworn in.

“Now in Dubai, I’m waiting for the issuance of my visa to enter Afghanistan to carry out the ethnographic research. The language of the racist executive order he just signed is ambiguous, but it is likely to prevent permanent residents like me from returning to the country where I am a student, where I have to defend my thesis.

“Meanwhile, it’s not yet clear whether the consulate of Afghanistan in Dubai would issue the visa I need in order to stay in Kabul for a year, and I cannot stay in Dubai for long or my UAE visa would expire. It’s not wise to go to Iran either,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “This is just one story among thousands.”

Meanwhile, human rights groups and NGOs say they have been inundated with calls from people concerned they will not be able to return to the US.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) described the final wording of the order as worse than a draft one leaked earlier in the week, and advised affected citizens to reconsider any plans they may have had to leave the US.

“We strongly recommend Iranian green card holders not leave the country until further clarity is achieved,” it said on its website.

Social media was flooded with claims of people being denied entry to the US, even if, in some cases, they were green card holders. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said it had received reports that green card and other visa holders had been denied boarding and admission into the US at various airports.

“I heard a report of somebody who had just returned and had been pulled aside at the airport and was being detained and they were saying the agents don’t know what to do with them,” Ibrahim Hooper, the communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told the Guardian.

“We’re mainly starting to get questions from people who have green cards and who are overseas and are returning now, about whether they are going to be allowed back into the country. We’re getting questions from young people who are going to go on ummas [a Muslim pilgrimage] in a group.

“They’re American citizens and they’re wondering, should they go, should they postpone? I personally got a call from someone who has a green card and is overseas and had just booked the first flight they could get. They were actually on their way back trying to make it back home to their American citizen husband and children, not knowing when they land whether they will be allowed into the country.”

Abed A Ayoub, the ADC’s legal director, said on Twitter that he had received many questions from concerned members. “I am doing my best to answer each and every one. Thnx 4 patience #MuslimBan,” he tweeted.

He said that visas were being denied immediately and that there was “chaos at airports and in the air”.

One notable casualty of the new order appeared to be the Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi, who has been nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign language film. Farhadi said he was concerned that he would no longer be able to enter the US for the ceremony.

Dr Trita Parsi, the NIAC president, tweeted: “Confirmed: Iran’s Asghar Farhadi won’t be let into the US to attend Oscars.”

The NIAC said it had learned that the daughter of an Iranian family living in the US on a green card had been removed from her plane bound for the US from Dubai. After five hours of questioning she was allowed by Dubai officials to board another flight home.

Later, Parsi said on Twitter he had learned of “another Iranian student with a multiple entry visa who was denied entry as she returned to the US from Europe”.

He said it appeared that US border officials were deciding whether green card holders could re-enter the US on a “case-by-case” basis which involved asking individuals about their political views. There were reports that some border officials were confused about their new instructions and unhappy about what was being asked of them.

The ban has already made some people reconsider their plans. Mohammad Saghafi, an undergraduate electrical engineering student at Tehran Azad University, told the Khaleej Times that he was thinking twice about trying to pursue further education in the US because of the ban. “I may continue my education in Canada or Germany,” he said. “Their leaders do not react like teenagers, at least.”

In the days before the order was issued, the CAIR director, Nihad Awad, tweeted: “These EOs [executive orders] will not make our nation safer, rather they will make it more fearful and less welcoming.”

The council said it would hold a news conference on Monday to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 individuals challenging what it called the “Muslim ban”.

Hooper said it appeared that border officials had been anticipating the order for several days. “We had been getting reports of people being turned away after landing days before the order [was issued]. We don’t know what’s going on, it’s just a great state of confusion and apprehension. It’s going to be the wild west out there. People are taking it upon themselves to carry out the indiscrimination that’s in this order.”

Advice for travellers affected by the Trump order

With no official guidance yet on how the ban will be enforced, US immigration attorneys with clients from the affected countries are advising them to cancel any plans to travel abroad if they are currently in the US.

Advocacy groups have also advised those who may be affected to cancel trips out of the US because they might not be allowed back in on their return. This includes green card and other visa holders.

For those from the listed countries currently in the US on student visas, the advice is to not leave the country until necessary, but to not overstay the visa.

Immigration groups are reporting that passport holders from the affected countries who have US visas but are outside the country are not being permitted to return. They are advising people in such situations to talk to an attorney. Visas for scheduled trips or stays that have not started will be void.

There is not yet any clear advice on the impact of the order for those who have dual citizenship or are spouses of US citizens. Those US citizens trying to bring their spouses to the US will have to seek legal advice as their spouses will likely be subject to the order, according to Abed A Ayoub, the legal and policy director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Visa applicants will be subject to Trump’s “extreme vetting”, which will involve a values test. The test will likely ask applicants about their religious beliefs and ideology.

US citizens who are from the targeted countries are free to travel because the executive order does not affect them and there is currently no indication of a call for denaturalisation, according to Ayoub.

There is some expectation that the list of countries will grow, so people from other predominately Muslim countries should monitor the situation.
Nicola Slawson