Iranian Americans Are Being Detained and Questioned at US Airports

For immigrants, refugees and visitors of Middle Eastern descent, travel to the United States has become more difficult since Donald Trump became President. One of Trump’s first actions was to institute a ban on visitors from certain countries with large Muslim populations. The travel ban was repeatedly blocked by United States judges.

With a new situation brewing in Iran, travel has again become difficult, particularly for people of Iranian descent. According to Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Iranians, including American citizens, are being detained and questioned at US Airports.

Representative Jayapal took to Twitter, writing, “Deeply disturbed by reports that Iranian Americans, including U.S. citizens, are being detained at the Canadian border with WA State. My office has been working on this all morning. Please contact us with information on directly affected people.”

Deeply disturbed by reports that Iranian Americans, including U.S. citizens, are being detained at the Canadian border with WA State. My office has been working on this all morning. Please contact us with information on directly affected people at WA07PJ_casework@mail.house.gov. — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) January 5, 2020

American writer John Ghazvinian also shared his story via Twitter. The author wrote, “Well, just landed at JFK and — no surprise — got taken to the special side room and got asked (among other things) how I feel about the situation with Iran. I wanted to be like: my book comes out in September, preorder now on Amazon.”

Well, just landed at JFK and — no surprise — got taken to the special side room and got asked (among other things) how I feel about the situation with Iran. I wanted to be like: my book comes out in September, preorder now on amazon — John Ghazvinian (@JohnGhazvinian) January 5, 2020

Fashion writer Hoda Ketabi also discussed the current situation in American airports. “This is a HUGE DEAL. Iranians who have been born and raised in the USA are literally being ILLEGALLY DETAINED for 11+ hours for NO REASON & interrogated with intrusive and inappropriate questions about political opinions, what courses they or their parents studied in college, etc,” she wrote.

This is a HUGE DEAL. Iranians who have been born and raised in the USA are literally being ILLEGALLY DETAINED for 11+ hours for NO REASON & interrogated with intrusive and inappropriate questions about political opinions, what courses they or their parents studied in college, etc — Hoda Katebi هدی کاتبی (@hodakatebi) January 5, 2020

Iranians who are detained at the border are being asked to contact the ACLU, CAIR, or Rep. Jayapal’s office.