The Sudanese-born Australian writer and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied, 27, has been denied entry in the United States last week, and deported within just three hours. From the moment she was told she could not enter the US until she returned back to London, where she resides, she had been tweeting about what was going on.
“I’m currently at the border and they’ve said I’m being deported. This should be fun. What are my rights?” she tweeted at first.
Abdel-Magied who was scheduled to speak at two events at writers association PEN America’s World Voices Festival in New York next week, said she was given no reason for her departing.
However, a US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told to the media that Abdel-Magied had the wrong type of visa, therefore they had to deport her.
“During the inspection, CBP officers determined this individual [Ms Abdel-Magied] did not possess the appropriate visa to receive monetary compensation for the speaking engagements she had planned during her visit to the United States,” the CBP spokesperson said.
On the other hand, through a statement on twitter, Abdel-Magied said that she had earlier entered the US for the same reason with the same visa as now.
“I have previously traveled to the United States on the visa that I sought entry with on this occasion,” she wrote, adding that she would now seek advice to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Abdel-Magied’s management refused to give any interviews with any media “until the situation is sorted out”.
The Australian Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge told the reporters that he had not heard the details of the incident, but that “it is unusual for an Australian citizen to not be granted a visa to go into the US”.
Abdel-Magied was born in Sudan and moved to Australia with her parents as a baby. This is not the first time an Australian writer gets stopped at the US airports. Famous children’s author Mem Fox was detained by the US immigration on February last year, on her 117th visit to the US.