A student from Palestine hoping to continue his studies at Harvard University as freshman came to an end because after his landing at Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts, he was denied entry.
While the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials wouldn't denied or confirm the cause, the 17-year-old Ismail Ajjawi said his denial was linked to political messages published by his friends on social media.
Ajjawi told the The Harvard Crimson student newspaper that federal agents detained him for hours in the airport.
They searched his electronic devices and questioned him about his friends’ social media posts, as well as his religious practices, and his "political points of view that oppose the U.S.," Ajjawi said in a statement.
"After the five hours ended, she called me into a room and she started screaming at me. She said that she found people posting political points of view that oppose the U.S. on my friend's list," Ajjawi added.
In a statement to Al Jazeera confirming Ajjawideportation, Michael McCarthy, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman, said that Ajjawi was "deemed inadmissible to the U.S. based on information discovered during the CBP inspection""
"CBP is responsible for ensuring the safety and admissibility of the goods and people entering the United States," he said.
The decision to cancel Ajjawi’s visa was based on information discovered during an inspection. Ajjawi was revoked and sent back to Lebanon, but according to the officials, he can still try to reapply for visa to enter the country in the future.
Ajjawi said that he still hopes to attend Harvard.
As a refugee on Lebanon with his family, Ajjawi was awarded the New Hope Fund undergraduate scholarship by U.S non-profit AMIDEAST's Hope Fund.
He was just one out of at least 100 young Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Lebanon and Jordan who have been given scholarships by AMIDEAST's Hope Fund to study in U.S. universities and colleges, since the year 2000.
U.S. border agents have been inspecting electronic devices and social media posts for some time.
Since June, the State Department expanded previous measures, and started requiring nearly all foreigners seeking U.S. visas to provide their social media usernames. They also are required to list current and former email addresses, as well as phone numbers.
This follows the administration of President Donald Trump, that has increased searches, saying that the process is critical to prevent extremists from entering the country.
In the past, such information was only requested if the individuals were required for more investigation.
Officials have conducted more than 33,000 device during a 12-month period. This is about four times higher than the 8,500 searches conducted three years earlier. And in 2018 alone, the U.S. State Department rejected more than 37,000 visa applications because of the Trump administration's so-called Muslim ban. This was up from less than 1,000 from the previous year when the restrictions had not been fully in effect.
The government released those numbers as a result of legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups.
