A professor at the American University of Beirut traveling to California for an engineering conference in San Diego says he was wrongfully denied entry to the US.
George A. Saad, 35, an associate professor at the Lebanon campus, missed his Monday presentation at the Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference in San Diego because officials from the Department of Homeland Security turned him away at Los Angeles International Airport without explanation, he told The New York Post.
When he landed Friday, Saad said he was detained and interrogated for four hours. His phone was confiscated and his laptop was seized and he had to reveal all passwords for his devices. He was photographed and fingerprinted. He was also prevented from contacting his lawyers and his wife.
Saad said his visa was revoked and he was put on the next plane back toward Beirut.
“I belong to the American University of Beirut — the leading academic institution in Lebanon and the Middle East, chartered in New York and considered an American territory in Lebanon,” Saad told The Post. “I felt so small, so unappreciated and consider being treated in demeaning and humiliating ways.”
Saad explained that he has traveled to the US about 15 times without incident and had no trouble attending similar engineering conferences in 2015 and 2016.
The Lebanese professor said he already filed a formal complaint with Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program so he can come to the conferences in the future, but he’s out the $2,500 cost of the trip.