Sara Yarjani was on the wrong flight at the wrong time.
The 35-year old is a student at California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas. She is also from Iran.
Last Friday, she was returning from a flight to Austria after visiting her family. She was in the air, bound for LAX, at the same time President Trump was signing an Executive Order that put a ban on entry from seven countries, including Iran.
Yarjani said even though she hasn’t been to Iran in 20-years, and is a permanent resident of Austria, she was detained and eventually forced back on the plane and deported.
One of her teachers in Encinitas expressed her dismay.
“It was completely unnecessary, disruptive, painful, traumatizing,” said Ji Hyang Padma.
Yarjani has a valid multiple entry student visa, and carries a 3.9 grade point average. She says she was detained at LAX for 23-hours. During that time, a stay was issued by a federal judge, but agents at the airport would not allow her to stay.
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“The way it was carried out was certainly clumsy, very uncoordinated, causing unnecessary chaos,” said Padma.
Yarjani is now being represented by a lawyer with the ACLU. They have yet to comment on her specific case.
