January 03, 2017
An Iranian Fulbright Scholar spent more than 25 hours detained at JFK Airport in New York and was put on a plane twice under threat of being deported back to Iran — before finally being released Sunday.
Stony Brook University linguistics student Vahideh Rasekhi was just one of scores of people across the country caught in President Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries.
At JFK alone, there were 48 people detained as of Sunday, with 30 eventually freed and two deported, said lawyers at the airport. Sixteen people were still being held Sunday night.
“I’m exhausted,’’ said Rasekhi, who has lived in the US for about 12 years and was returning from visiting her family in Iran, after being released.
“It’s so embarrassing.’’