Iranian Researcher Denied U.S. Entry Allegedly Has Ties to Militia
An Iranian cancer researcher who was denied entry to the United States previously headed a student branch of a volunteer paramilitary militia, according to footage aired on Iranian state television on Thursday.
Dehnavi was detained at Boston's Logan International Airport along with his wife and three young children upon arrival on Monday. They were sent back to Iran the following day despite holding a J-1 visa for visiting scholars. He was expecting to take up work at Boston Children's Hospital.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has said the family's detention was for "reasons unrelated" to President Donald Trump's executive order on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran. It did not say why specifically the family was turned back.
The Supreme Court recently ruled the Trump administration could largely enforce its temporary ban on travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. But the court said the ban cannot block people with a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."