‘Everything I worked for doesn’t matter’: A Clemson PhD graduate has been denied entry into the USA
She went home to visit family
A Clemson PhD graduate was taken off her flight home after President Trump banned people from seven countries from entering the US.
In a Facebook post, Nazanin Zinouri explained how she was asked to leave a plane heading for the USA at Dubai airport, just two hours after the executive order was signed.
The data scientist, a recent Clemson Industrial Engineering PhD graduate, cut a trip to see family in Tehran short after she heard of a possible ban on immigration.
She went through the airport to travel back home – and was sitting on the runway in Dubai when she was asked by officers to disembark the plane.
Writing on her personal Facebook post, Nazanin, who is now a data scientist said:
“I normally don’t write long posts or any kind of political or religious comments. I apologize in advance and I don’t expect my friends to read this long long past!!
“But today I just couldn’t hold it any longer. Friday 1/20/17 started like any other normal day. I was excited about my trip to Tehran. After all I only get to visit them once a year. I was excited and anxious at the same time. I was worried about my little puppy but I couldn’t wait to see my mom…
“It was an uneventful trip. I made him home on Monday 1/22/17, after around 28 hours, exhausted but so so happy. We were all happy. I was going to eat lots of delicious Persian food and make tons of great memories and go back to my life in the US. But the happiness didn’t last that long.
“On Wednesday, we started hearing rumors about new executive orders that will change immigration rules for some countries including Iran. Soon we started reading drafts like everyone else. I might be banned from going back?!?! No that can’t be true. I’m not gonna let that ruin my trip. But then it got serious so fast.
“Before I knew it, it was actually happening. Even though I didn’t want to leave my family, I quickly booked a ticket to get on the next flight back. Only a few hours after the order was signed, I got to the airport, got on a plane and made it to Dubai.
“After waiting in the line to get my documents checked and after 40 minutes of questions and answers, I boarded the plane to Washington, only to have two TSA officers getting in and ask me to disembark the plane!!!
“Yes after almost 7 years of living the the United States, I got deported!!! No one warned me when I was leaving, no one cared what will happen to my dog or my job or my life there. No one told me what I should do with my car that is still parked at the airport parking. Or what to do with my house and all my belongings.
“They didn’t say it with words but with their actions, that my life doesn’t matter. Everything I worked for all these years doesn’t matter.
I just had to say it…”
Friends in North Carolina are reportedly taking care of her dog, while others have taken to Twitter to express their disbelief, and petition for Nazanin’s return:
On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order banning newcomers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States for the next 90 days.
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