Since last August, at least 17 Iranian students with valid visas to study in America have reportedly been sent home upon their arrival at US airports.
According to label immigrant rights advocates, the students who had their dream of studying in the US were sent home and most were given five-year bans on returning to the US, after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers deemed them “inadmissible.”
Immigration lawyers claimed the deportation began last year but it escalated in recent weeks amid high political tensions between the US and Iran, after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on January 3.
Last September, Reihana Emami Arandi, a student who wanted to enrol for her Master’s programme at the Harvard Divinity School boarded a flight from Tehran to Boston.
When she landed in Logan airport, she was pulled aside for questioning.
The 31-year-old was reportedly asked questions about her travels, work experience, family, studies and her Iranian mobile phone number.
When a CBP officer searched her luggage, she asked her about a Quran she was carrying.
Reihana claimed she was also asked about what Iranians think about the explosion in Saudi Arabia, referring to the September 14 drone attacks on two major Saudi Arabian oil facilities
