A Palestinian freshman at Harvard is denied entry to the United States and arrives for the start of the semester

A 17-year-old Harvard Palestinian student who was denied entry to the United States after being asked about his friends' social media posts, has since been allowed to enter the country for the beginning of the semester.

Ismali Ajjawi landed in Boston on Saturday afternoon and was allowed to enter the country, AMIDEAST said in a statement. He is now in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just in time for Harvard's fall semester, which will begin on September 3rd.

"The last 10 days have been difficult and anxious, but we are very grateful for the thousands of messages of support, especially the work of AMIDEAST," said the student's family. said in a statement from their attorney at Harvard Crimson.

"We are delighted that Ismail's dream at Harvard becomes a reality after all. Ismail is a brilliant young man whose hard work, intelligence and dynamism have helped him overcome the difficulties that young Palestinian refugees are still facing in order to win a scholarship, "said Theodore Kattouf, president and CEO of UNICEF. AMIDEAST.

Ajjawi, a Harvard scholar, was deported last week about eight hours after arriving at Logan International. He had been interrogated by immigration officers for hours after searching his phone and computer.

About five hours later, he said, an immigration officer "called me in a room and she started screaming after me. She said she found people with opposite political views in the United States to my friend.[s] list, "reported the Crimson.His visa was later canceled and he was informed that he would be deported.

A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said: "Applicants must demonstrate eligibility in the United States by removing ALL grounds for inadmissibility, including health-related grounds, crime, security reasons, charge, work certificate, illegal entries and immigration offenses, required documents, and various reasons. "

He added: "This person was found to be ineligible in the US based on information discovered during the inspection of CBP," according to the Crimson.