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ABC presenter denied entry to US

Updated: Yassmin Abdel-Magied has been denied entry to the US, after presenting an incorrect visa.

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ABC presenter and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has been denied entry to the US, after landing in Minneapolis ahead of speaking engagements in New York.

“They’ve taken my phone, cancelled my visa and are deporting me,” she said of border control, via social media.

“Will follow up on messages once I understand what’s going on.”

Officials will not return her passport until she was in another country.

“Roughly three hours since touch down in Minneapolis, I’m on a plane back,” she tweeted.

“Well, guess that tightening of immigration laws business is working, despite my Australian passport. We’re taking off now. What a time.”

Abdel-Magied, who attracted headlines for comments surrounding ANZAC Day, is to present in the view series, Hijabistas! with Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

She also makes her acting debut in SBS on Demand series Homecoming Queens today ….now a somewhat ironic title, perhaps.

Updated: According to News Corp, US Customs and Border Protection this afternoon issued a statement saying Ms Abdel-Magied was turned away because she did not have the correct visa.

“During the inspection, CBP officers determined this individual did not possess the appropriate visa to receive the monetary compensation for the speaking engagements she had planned during her visit to the United States,” it said.

“As such, she was deemed inadmissable to enter the United States for her visit, but was allowed to withdraw her application for admission.”

Source: Fairfax

20 Responses

  1. so the next ordinary person who gets denied entry to the USA due to wrong visa will they get the same media attention or do you have to be special like her

    2. It’s not new & has been going on since at least the late 00s. Business media has reported business travellers attending conferences being denied entry. Tech media has reported IT people attending meetings being denied. Academic media has reported academics attending workshops/conferences being denied.

      And David’s media blog is reporting about a media person being denied entry, just as it should. The only reason it’s gotten big media attention is because she’s a favourite RWNJ / Uncle Ruprecht punching bag.

      US media quote her as saying it was a B1/B2 visa i.e. the correct one. That allows her to have expenses paid and receive monetary consideration for attending/speaking – but if they believe she was /earning/ money they can deny entry. The decision is up to the agent @ the airport.

      Can you think of any reason they’d deny a brown Muslim woman entry to the US?

  2. “Despite my Australian passport” – that comment alone speaks volumes about her motive for venting on Twitter. She tried to enter the US on a tourist visa, knowing full well that she was going there for a paid speaking engagement. What does she expect? It’s not an issue of nationality or national security – it’s about trying to flaunt visa laws and not getting away with it. End of story. She’ll be back in the country in enough time to speak at the conference and the people who will foot the bill will be the conference organisers, since they most likely paid for her flight (since she was an invited and paid speaker). Yassmin should offer to cover the costs of the extra flight, since it was her fault that she was denied entry into the US.

      1. She had a tourist visa for goodness sake. The ‘reasonable person’ would conclude that a tourist is visiting the destination country (USA/Australia/Europe/etc) to be a tourist … to tour the country to see that country’s sights. If the primary purpose of visiting a country is to attend a conference for which you are going to be paid, it is patently obvious that your purpose of visiting that country is not tourism.

        I understand that the US has been very kind to her and have deleted her current visa application so that she can apply straight away for the appropriate US visa from her current country of residence (UK I believe).

        1. What’s being reported in many circles is that she travelled on a B1 (or B1/B2) visa – that’s a temporary business visa (e.g. signing contracts, academic/professional consultation or conferences (including speaking), etc, and allows payment for expenses and an honorarium) for attending conferences.

          The US INS is notorious for being very inconsistent about allowing entry on these visas, requiring you to prove that you’re not intending to immigrate in the near future (i.e. you can’t travel on one for a job interview) and very suspicious about whether any money you may receive is fair recompense for expenses and trouble, or earnings. It’s something of a sore point in the academic world both inside & outside the US…

      1. It’s not a publicity stunt, it’s a significant expense and hassle for her. She just tried to get away with not applying for the correct visa, as she had before and got caught because the US is enforcing the rules now. Then decided to post it on social media as everyone does these days, and being a celebrity she can use it to generate publicity. .

    1. I agree, just before she might have received payment for speaking in the USA for speaking engagements whilst travelling on a tourist visa doesn’t mean that you will always get away with it.

    2. She would have had to sign off the visa application herself. She planned to “work”, i.e., receive “monetary compensation”, not a “tourist”. Exactly same rules apply to arrivals in Australia.

  5. This is where I find Yassmin problematic. She distorts things for her own narrative and detracts from legitimate instances of racial/religious profiling and targeting. This has happened previously in Australia with touring stars of Rupaul’s Drag Race. Local promoters don’t want to pay for the correct visas and try sneak them through on tourism visas. Trixie and Katya were deported back to the US on their first tour here for this very reason.

    1. Officials will not return her passport until she was in another country.?
      How does that work,you need a passport to leave the USA and to enter that other country?

      1. Because she was denied access at the border, technically she would never have legally been in the USA. I’ve been to the “UK” several times, but never left the confines of Heathrow Airport, so I’ve never “officially” been to the UK.

      2. Her passport would be given back to her by US Customs and Border Protection when she’s escorted onto the next plane out and the doors are about to be closed.

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