Breaking News: Holders of Valid Visas Turned Back at U.S Airports
Within hours of President Trump’s executive order limiting immigration from Muslim countries, green card and visa holders were already being blocked from getting on flights to the U.S with some being turned back at airports across the country.
The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said people who had already landed were being sequestered at airports and told they have to return to their point of origin.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a directive at 4:30 p.m. ordering the Customs and Border Protection to enforce the executive order.
Trump’s order suspending visas and green cards said it covers nations of “particular concern.”
A draft version of the order covers at least seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
U.S Customs officials said the number of people who arrived here and were turned back was not immediately available Friday night.
“It takes time to collect all the numbers,” a spokesman said.
“It will be a decision from the highest levels of The Department of Homeland Security to decide if and when the data may be available.”
Meanwhile, five Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni were barred from boarding an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to New York on Saturday following Trump’s ban on the entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, Per Second News gathered.
The six passengers, bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport, were prevented from boarding EgyptAir Flight 985 at Cairo airport despite holding valid immigration visas, the sources said.
The five Iraqis had arrived in transit from Erbil and were being held at the airport until they could be re-boarded on flights back to Iraq, whereas the Yemeni passenger had arrived at the airport from elsewhere in Cairo, they added.
