Canadians born in Iran, Afghanistan turned away at U.S. border after Trump executive order on terror threats

Canadian citizens born in Iran and Afghanistan are being denied entry to the United States after facing intense questioning at the border, immigration lawyers and advisers say, as the Trump administration pursues more aggressive vetting of foreigners.

Legal experts who spoke to The Globe and Mail called on Ottawa to issue a travel advisory warning citizens and residents that they risk being denied entry, having their visas or Nexus cards revoked, or even being detained or deported if they travel to the U.S.

Although there are no up-to-date official figures on the countries of birth of Canadians being refused entry to the U.S., several immigration lawyers said they have been contacted about more border issues since Jan. 20, when newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order that called for more stringent screening of foreign nationals entering the U.S.

To reinforce the order, the Trump administration is reported to be considering formally issuing a complete ban on travel to the U.S. for the citizens of scores of countries, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Yemen and Somalia, with further entry restrictions on citizens of Eritrea, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Myanmar and others. The administration has also pledged to deport pro-Palestinian protesters in the U.S.

Sofia Hamayun, an immigration adviser at Lexaltico, a law firm in Mississauga, said people from predominantly Muslim countries are being targeted unfairly by U.S. border authorities.

She said her firm was contacted by a Canadian businessman from Toronto, who was born in Afghanistan and was refused entry to the U.S. about a month ago as he tried to visit relatives, despite having travelled there on previous occasions. He had been thinking of opening a business in the U.S., she added.

She called on Ottawa to issue a travel advisory warning people of the risks of travelling to the U.S., and said travellers from Canada should be told that their social-media accounts could be scrutinized by U.S. border agents. She warned that posts expressing support for Palestinians, for example, could lead to questioning at the border or, for someone already in the U.S. on a visa, being detained.

“Canadians, entrepreneurs, persons that want to move to the U.S. through a work visa, even persons that are going to visit family for a period longer than a month – they are 100 per cent going to be experiencing a high level of scrutiny,” she said.

Immigration lawyer Melissa Babel said that in the past three weeks she had been contacted by two Canadian passport holders born in Iran who have lived here for decades and were prevented by U.S. customs and border agents from entering the country.

Both men had faced intense questioning about whether they were exempt from compulsory military service in Iran, and asked to produce proof that they never served in the Iranian military, Ms. Babel said. Some male Iranians are conscripted into the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is listed in both the U.S. and Canada as a terrorist organization.

Ms. Babel, founder of Babel Immigration Law, said one of the men, who regularly travels to the U.S. on behalf of his employer for business meetings, was refused entry in the past three weeks, on the grounds that his documents were not in order.

Forty-eight hours after being refused entry, he learned that his Nexus card – a membership identification card that allows expedited processing for preapproved, low-risk travellers entering the U.S. – had been cancelled.

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The other Iranian-Canadian was travelling to the U.S. on vacation with his Iranian-Canadian wife and Canadian-born daughter. They were all denied entry.

Ms. Babel said permanent or temporary residents of Canada should be advised that entry “is not guaranteed” and they could be questioned at the U.S. border, or even have their entry visas revoked by U.S. border agents.

“So a shopping trip to New York could have greater consequences,” she said.

Immigration lawyer Yameena Ansari said U.S. border agents are “enforcing immigration laws and policies more strictly than ever before.”

“Canada needs to join the ranks of the European nations who have issued travel advisories,” Ms. Ansari said.

Canadian citizens do not require a visa to travel to the U.S., but other Canadian residents do. Naturalized Canadians have their country of origin on their passports, as do permanent residents of Canada on their permanent-residency cards. Immigration lawyers say this is prompting increased scrutiny for people from countries deemed by the Trump administration to harbour terrorist groups.

Britain and Germany have already issued warnings to their citizens about travelling to the U.S. after problems encountered at the border since Mr. Trump took office.

Britain warned that anyone found breaking U.S. entry rules could face arrest or detention.

Earlier this month, Canada updated its U.S. travel advisory, saying that Canadians and foreign nationals visiting the country for longer than 30 days must be registered with the American government. But it did not warn of potential problems at the border or the risk of detention.

With a report from Reuters