U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied re-entry to the United States to Rasha Alawieh, a visa holder and kidney transplant specialist at Brown University, because she had attended the funeral for the former leader of Hezbollah.
The story of Alawieh not being allowed back into the United States garnered attention on Monday, but often without the context of Alawieh’s support for the terrorist group.
“Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah — a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah. A visa is a privilege not a right — glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
‘I think if you listen to one of his sermons, you would know what I mean.’
The New York Times’ story, at time of publication, still does not include the new information provided by DHS.
Politico reported not only that Alawieh admitted to attending Nasrallah’s funeral last month, but that she also had “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone before arriving at Boston’s Logan Airport.
Alawieh at first told CBP she did not support Nasrallah, but then later admitted she admired him from a “religious” perspective. She further claimed she did not know Hezbollah was designated a terrorist organization, even though it has been so for over two decades.
“So I have a lot of Whatsapp groups with families and friends who send them. So I am a Shia Muslim and he is a religious figure. He has a lot of teachings, and he is highly regarded in the Shia community,” Alawieh said, according to the transcript filed in court. “I think if you listen to one of his sermons, you would know what I mean. He is a religious, spiritual person, as I said; he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.”
After an interview conducted at Logan airport, Alawieh was informed that her visa had been canceled and that she is subject to a five-year bar on returning to the United States. There is a legal battle over her detainment and subsequent removal from the country.
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