An Iranian woman was detained Tuesday after flying into Oregon to visit family, despite holding a valid tourist visa issued to her barely three weeks ago. The detention of Alia Ghandi, an architect, is now “renewing fears” that rogue Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents could be again targeting travelers from Muslim-majority nations, despite the fact that Donald Trump’s Muslim ban 2.0 was recently slapped down in the courts:
CBP declined to comment on the specifics of Ghandi’s case, but said in a statement that “having a ‘valid visa’ does not guarantee a foreign national entry into the US”, adding, “A traveler regardless of their country of nationality can be found inadmissible into the US for various reasons.”
Ghandi, 29, was detained for several hours after she landed in Portland on Tuesday and was eventually transferred to a county jail 80 miles away, according to Mat dos Santos, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon.
dos Santos said it was unusual and troubling that Ghandi was forced to spend the night in a jail. The customs spokesperson claimed that the Portland international airport does not have a CBP holding facility for an overnight stay and that it is “customary” to transfer a traveler to a local jail.
Bryan Brandenburg, administrator at the Northern Oregon regional correctional facility, a county jail, said Ghandi was held for about 12 hours at the facility from 5pm to 5am and has since returned to Portland. He claimed that the jail does not hold people simply based on their immigration status and that Ghandi was at the facility due to a “federal warrant”, though he said he could not provide further details.
Dos Santos, however, said the ACLU has received no indication that there are any criminal charges or investigation. The CBP spokesperson also said Ghandi was not facing a criminal charge and described her case as a “minor administrative violation”.
“We are working with the family of an Iranian woman who has been detained and denied entry into the U.S. at PDX,” tweeted the ACLU of Oregon yesterday. “Customs and Border Protection has refused to let her family speak to her or to provide information on where she is being held.” According to a second report, immigration officials may be transporting Ghandi to an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington. In that same report, Ghandi’s sister says a “weird” conversation she had with an officer leads her to believe her sister may have been confused during questioning upon arriving in Oregon:
There was a chance Ghandi would be on a flight to Amsterdam Wednesday afternoon, but that plan has been scrapped. She will now likely head to a detention center instead.
Ahranjani told KATU News she thinks her sister froze up after being questioned by U.S. Customs and Border officers at PDX, and that something got lost in translation.
"(The officer) started asking me very weird questions about if my sister wants to take care of my kids here," Ahranjani said. "I said, 'No, my kids are older now. She just wants to visit us.'"
Reporter Chris Liedle from KATU News in Portland reports Portland International Airport is preparing for possible protests in response.