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US Deports Palestinian Harvard Freshman After Religious Interrogation at Airport

August 28, 2019
Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts (photo: iStock)

A Palestinian incoming Harvard student was deported at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) last Friday and his visa was revoked, the Harvard Crimson reports. 17-year-old Ismail B. Ajjawi, a Palestinian resident of Tyre, Lebanon, is slated to start school at Harvard College on Tuesday September 3rd, but upon landing in Boston on Friday night, immigration officers at BOS held him in custody for eight hours, during which he was interrogated on his religious views and had his phone and computer confiscated and inspected. Soon after, an officer informed him that his student visa had been revoked and that he was facing deportation. “When I asked every time to have my phone back so I could tell [someone] about the situation, the officer refused and told me to sit back in [my] position and not move at all,” Ajjawi wrote in a statement, according to Slate. “After the 5 hours ended, she called me into a room, and she started screaming at me. She said that she found people posting political points of view that oppose the US on my friend[s] list.” Ajjawi remained in custody even after other international students…


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