PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An Iranian citizen with a tourist visa who was denied entry to the U.S. on Tuesday has been granted a hearing over concerns she could be killed if she’s sent back to Iran, family members told KOIN 6 News.
Alia Ghandi, 29, was reportedly issued a tourist visa 3 weeks ago. Her sister, Leila Ahranjani, said she was visiting Portland for 4-5 weeks to spend time with her niece and nephew before going back home to her job as an architect.
“We were beyond happy to see her after 5 years,” Ahranjani said. “The plane arrived from Amsterdam. Everyone came out, she did not.”
Ahranjani said an officer called her cellphone and asked “funny questions” about her sister, like “if she wants to stay here and help me raise kids.”
“I told him, ‘No, she’s just visiting,” she said.
The officer later told Ahranjani her sister was being denied entry to the U.S.
Sources with U.S. Customs and Border Protection told KOIN 6 News they had reason to believe Ghandi was intending to move to America permanently, not just visit.
Multiple sources confirmed she was traveling with personal documents that had been translated to English, signaling that she had an “intent to immigrate.”
A Customs spokesperson said the situation had nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s recent travel ban or Ghandi’s status as an Iranian citizen.
Ghandi spent Tuesday night at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility in The Dalles because Customs at PDX closed overnight, sources confirmed.
She was supposed to be on a flight back to Amsterdam and onto Iran Wednesday, but family said she was seeking asylum through a credible fear hearing, meaning a judge would hear her case that she fears for her life if she is sent back to Iran.
“If she goes back now, she’s afraid they’ll see she was only here for a day and then think she was trying to escape, and then they’ll kill her,” attorney Robert Crow, who is working with the family, said. “She’s afraid of being in jail too, though.”
The Executive Office for Immigration Review told KOIN 6 News Ghandi has been scheduled for a bond re-determination hearing on April 27 at 10:30 a.m.
Ghandi is reportedly awaiting her hearing in an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington.
If a judge will hear her credible fear case, sources close to the situation said she could either be granted asylum and released to her family or immediately sent back to Iran.
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.