CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - It is move-in day at Harvard but one member of the class of 2023 is not in Cambridge.
A 17-year-old Palestinian student living in Lebanon arrived at Logan Airport Tuesday ready to start classes but, was unable to make it through customs and border protection.
The student told the Harvard Crimson that U.S. officials questioned him for hours about his friend’s social media activity and his own personal religious practices.
“He said he was detained there for eight hours,” Shera Avi-Yonah of the Crimson said. “Where customs officials took away his phone and laptop and spending about five hours looking through them while he just kind of had to sit there. Couldn’t move, couldn’t talk to his family he says.”
The student was deemed inadmissible to the United States and sent back to Lebanon.
“He told them [he has] never interacted with any of those posts. [He has] never liked them. [He has] never posted himself and they said that doesn’t really change our decision,” Avi-Yonah explained.
Officials said they are unable to provide a specific reason why the student was not allowed in the country due to privacy laws.
A spokesperson did say, “Applicants must demonstrate they are admissible to the U.S. by overcoming all grounds of inadmissibility including, health-related grounds criminality, security, public charge, labor certification, illegal entrants and immigration violations, documentation requirements, and miscellaneous grounds. This individual was deemed inadmissible to the United States based on information discovered in a CBP inspection.”
Being deemed inadmissible is different than being deported.
Someone classified as inadmissible can reapply for a visa with the Department of State.
The university said it is currently trying to help the student with the appropriate paperwork.
“The University is working closely with the student’s family and appropriate authorities to resolve this matter so that he can join his classmates in the coming days,” according to Harvard Media Relations representative Jason Newton.
Some students moving in Tuesday afternoon said they are sad to see this happen to one of their own.
“This student clearly worked hard, they were admitted and they couldn’t even experience this great opportunity that they probably worked really hard for,” graduate student Mani Sellers said. “It frustrates me because I believe everyone who wants the access should have the access to education.”
Harvard has recently expressed concerns that other international students are having regarding visas. They called the whole process anxiety-ridden and uncertain.
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