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Ismail Ajjawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian student living in Lebanon, had great plans to study medicine at Harvard this fall, but was prevented from entering America because of his friends' social media posts. .
Akkawi was denied entry into the United States after landing Friday at Logan International Airport in Boston, university and federal officials told The Associated Press this week. The freshman said the denial had to do with his friends' posts on social media of a political nature.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman Michael McCarthy said the decision to cancel Ajjawi's visa was based on information discovered during an inspection but did not not specified the nature of this information. McCarthy added that Ajjawi was not deported, which meant he could always look to get back.
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Harvard worked to solve the problem, said university spokesman Jason Newton. AMIDEAST, a non-profit organization that provided a scholarship to Ajjawi, provided legal assistance.
Ajjawi told the Harvard Crimson student newspaper that federal agents had detained him at the airport for eight hours, had searched his cell phone and his laptop and asked him about the publications of his friends on social media.
A Palestinian student trying to start classes at Harvard University was denied entry to the United States (iStock, File)
The articles included "political views opposed to the United States," Ajjawi said in his written statement.
"I replied that I have no business with such messages and that I did not like, did not read or comment on them, and I told him [the agent] that I should not be held responsible for what others post, "he added.
Ajjawi told The Crimson that he still hoped to rejoin his classmates in time for the start of classes on Tuesday. His family lived in a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Tire in southern Lebanon.
In an interview with Al-Araby on television on Friday while his son was traveling to the United States, Bassel Ajjawi had the following message: "I am very proud of you and hope that you will be an exemplary representative of the Palestinian people in the United States. # 39; abroad. " Bassel Ajjawi refused to comment beyond the statement of his son at Crimson.
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Postal administrations had excavated electronic devices and social media at the borders, but freedom of expression groups complain that they have been stepped up since the entry into force. according to President Trump in 2017.
The Trump administration says that advanced research is essential to prevent extremists from entering the country.
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International students and university professors are faced with "postponements and disruptions for usual immigration processes such as family visas, status renewals or permission to travel to Canada." "," Wrote Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow in a letter to State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan in July.
The State Department has issued only 362,929 student visas during fiscal year 2018, a decrease of more than 43% compared to 644,233 visas issued by the state. students issued during the 2015 fiscal year, according to department data.
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