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Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

cs.jhu.edu

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Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#61

Post by piqufoh »

untog wrote: post #43

As an immigrant in the US, watching HN lately has been enlightening. Absolutely none of this is new- and it's also almost entirely unrelated to PRISM. Despite the fact that tech companies have been struggling with insane visa rules for years, it's only now that we start posting about individual injustices, now that we can file it under the banner of "government bad" ?

Why would this be unrelated to PRISM? As this guy doesn't know what he's accused of, and we have no idea what PRISM is looking for, assuming they're unrelated is as fallacious as assuming they are related.

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#62

Post by piqufoh »

Mithaldu wrote: post #55

The one thing I'm taking home from that letter is this: the embassy called him back to say that they had found the problem. They said that if he came in, they would fix it. Instead of fixing it, they stamped CANCELED across his student visa without explaining what was wrong, and refused to answer any questions as to why. In short: The american embassy has no compunctions whatsoever to lie to citizens of other countri…

This part is breathtakingly bad, but also largely subjective - we may never know what they really said...

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#63

Post by twoodfin »

outworlder wrote: post #31

Well, this "problem" with sort out itself, eventually. Taking the ridiculous border controls, the economic situation, disregard of human rights (specially for foreigners), it means that the US is rapidly becoming an unattractive place to work, study and even go on vacation. Before long, you won't have many people trying to get in. Guess where the entrepreneurs, scientists and highly skilled workers will go? Hint: not…

Before long, you won't have many people trying to get in.

Wanna bet?

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#65

Post by EliRivers »

TylerE wrote: post #27
EliRivers wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely we want them to stop doing bad things? :p

Yes, but this will stop them from doing EASY TO CATCH bad things. It's like anti-bacterial soap. Think about how badass that 0.1% that ISN'T killed is.

Ignoring that whooshing noise, so we're breeding a race of super-terrorists? Nice.

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#66

Post by untog »

piqufoh wrote: post #61
untog wrote: post #43

As an immigrant in the US, watching HN lately has been enlightening. Absolutely none of this is new- and it's also almost entirely unrelated to PRISM. Despite the fact that tech companies have been struggling with insane visa rules for years, it's only now that we start posting about individual injustices, now that we can file it under the banner of "government bad" ?

Why would this be unrelated to PRISM? As this guy doesn't know what he's accused of, and we have no idea what PRISM is looking for, assuming they're unrelated is as fallacious as assuming they are related.

My cable internet got cut off 48 hours ago. I'm still doing a merry jig with Time Warner to work out why. So it was probably PRISM, right? The NSA saw that I was posing about PRISM online and immediately moved to sever my connection to the outside world.

There is zero evidence to link Omar's case with PRISM- especially as the events described started over a year and a half ago. I am not "assuming" that it is unrelated, I am making a decision based on the fact that there is no evidence linking the two. When such evidence arises, I'll re-examine my opinion. But assuming that everything is related to PRISM because it involves computers and/or the government is a slippery slope into tin foil hatted-ness.

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#67

Post by pseut »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #12

I wonder if this is one of those vague "security" problems. It seems like if people get denied for normal stuff (overstaying, violating their visas, etc) they're told and can at least fight it a little. But when you get a black mark against you it seems like you get stuck in an administrative blackhole where nobody is authorised to tell you WHY or they themselves don't know. It was the same way with the no-fly list f…

"if people get denied for normal stuff (overstaying, violating their visas, etc) they're told and can at least fight it a little."

I think this is true when the person is in the country but when they're not they can't enter when it's being worked out, even if there are no security issues. (but I'm a US citizen and don't have any direct experience)

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#68

Post by Zigurd »

davidw wrote: post #15
weego wrote: post #10

Are we going to trawl up and link every single case of someone being denied re-entry to the US? It's just getting rather tedious. Though as the constant karma farming off similarly tedious and usually poorly researched and written blog posts of the last week continues unabated perhaps I am in a minority of readers who gets their news from decent sources and likes to come to HN for interesting technical articles.

I think HN is seriously at risk of having jumped the shark for good. This NSA thing blew the lid off - the front page is completely full of articles about politics, with more each day about all kinds of different things. I suppose things may settle down again - they have after other big events, but... I worry, I worry. (And for the record, for those who conflate not wanting to see every article about this with not ca…

The PRISM scandal remains a threat to US tech businesses. Long after it fades from HN, it will be a drag on growth. Since government credibility will be hard to repair, a big part of the solution is likely going to be stronger technical measures against any kind of snooping.

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#69

Post by morganwilde »

VLM wrote: post #40
monsterix wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I find these single cases to be ridiculous, because there are competent individuals in government who oft do what they're supposed to, even if the whole government mechanism appears corrupt and broken. Most likely there was a legitimate reason, and of course we only have one side of the story here, by an associate professor and his PhD student. You'll understand only when you face it. What legitimate reasons ar…

"What legitimate reasons are you applying to justify treatment of any or every person on the planet as potential threat" Because they are? Approximately zero risk, true, but slightly over zero. Its a pretty simple straightforward game theory problem. Whats the total aggregate sum of the trouble you'll get into by letting 1 out of 100 million terrorist thru, vs simply stamping "denied national security" on any random…

OK, then explain the Tsarnajevs (the Boston bombers) getting past even with multiple terrorist flags? If the system is stonewalling and so tight, then why were they successful in going to terrorist camps and then coming back?

Re: Jordanian citizen was denied re-entry to the US on eve of his PhD defense at JHU

#70

Post by yardie »

lanaius wrote: post #18
lmgftp wrote: post #2

Their decision was probably based in some way (assuming it's based on available information, which is admittedly risky) in his marriage to a foreign national while expressing interest in moving to the states, and the embassy's reluctance to chance him violating his visa permissions and in some way moving here with his wife in a permanent resident-alien w/o a visa type manner. Not claiming to know anything special, bu…

I have been told by other foreign graduate students that getting married in another country (possibly even married at all) violates that student visa agreements. One girl is French and marrying an American, she was told that if she goes to France to have a wedding ceremony that she would not be allowed back in to America. This sounds exactly like what happened to this student. It's shameful and bizarre, but it appear…

> marrying an American, she was told that if she goes to France to have a wedding ceremony that she would not be allowed back in to America.

My cursory reading of the USCIS website tells me her fiance would need to apply for a K1,K3 visa. Being married she is entitled to rights the typical J visa holder does not have.

This is where the immigrant/nonimmigrant visa process breaks down. USCIS makes it painfully expensive to change a nonimmigrant visa into an immigrant visa. I guess what they want to avoid is having people jump the greencard queue, and marriage moves you right to the top, by flying in on a tourist visa, find a willing US citizen to marry.

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