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KPBS Midday Edition

Encinitas Student Who Was Barred From U.S. Speaks Out

Sara Yarjani (right) with sister Salma Yarjani (left).
Sara Yarjani (right) with sister Salma Yarjani (left).
Encinitas Student Who Was Barred From U.S. Speaks Out
Encinitas Student Who Was Barred From U.S. Speaks Out GUEST: Sara Yarjani, student, California Institute for Human Science

As President Trump prepares a second version of his travel ban on refugees and immigrants people caught up in the confusion of the first executive order are still trying to get over the experience. In Encinitas student Sarah Yarjani is a permanent rest -- resident of Austria. She has of user as a student further US. She was turned away from the USS the travel ban went into effect. Welcome to the program. Thank you. You are coming back from visiting your family in Austria. What happened when you landed that LAX? I landed at about 8:30 and I was going to go through the normal passport control which on other tips had -- trips had been really quick with just a few questions and the officer who was checking the passport after asking the normal questions told me that I have to wait for secondary and another officer came and escorted me to a waiting area in the back. There was a lot of confusion and waiting in between. There was officers going back and forth and it was all very harsh and fast orders one after the other a without any breathing time or anything in between to understand what is going on a and officer came after a while and took me to a room where he said that he was my caseworker and he had to do an interview. At the end of that he said you are not admissible to the US and we will be sending me back. He said you now have two options. Either you agree to leave voluntarily and you sign a document saying so or we will forcibly remove the in which case you will be faced with a ban of 1 to 5 years or longer of reentry to the US. Will you comply a I said if you're telling me to I will. It was not presented like a choice. Basically he was saying we are sending you off anyway either you leave voluntarily or we force you. But everything that was going on everything was so strangely harsh and I felt that I had no choice other than same that I agree and I comply. After that I had to wait 23 hours before they put me on a flight. Meanwhile the ACLU of Southern California not involved in you were able to return to the US about a week later. Were you nervous about coming back to the US. Yes I was. The first time that I was here was after 18 hours of traveling when I got here I was detained here for 23 hours. For most of that there was hardly any food. The risk factors -- there were crackers and juice and water that they had needles that I cannot have because of -- I was vegetarian and the only thing available was chicken cup of noodles. I could not have any food. The way we were treated was very harsh so when I was coming back from there was the new rolling that said it was temporarily possible to enter and come back I was really scared because I did not know what would happen once I landed. The previous time the order had been signed while I had been in there and this time I did not know while I was on the flight if things will be okay when I arrived and I have no idea what would happen when I reached here. You were admitted back into the United States. The Trump administration says it is working on a streamlined version of its travel ban which reportedly were not affect people with approved visas. Would you feel comfortable about traveling back and forth from the US at the went into effect X this? I do not exactly know what is going to be set as the new regulations but I have generally become almost scared of going to the airport even after when I arrived back here my sister had flown in from Portland to see me and I wanted to just see her off at the airport for her to leave I was feeling a little bit anxious about even going to the airport to drop her off. Everything that was happening was so irrational and it didn't make any sense so I was not feeling safe so I have generally been cautious about traveling. Polls have shown that about half the people in the US support some form of stricter vetting and tighter security for people coming into the country. Although you got caught up in it do you think there is a need for tighter security controls? The way that me and others will be in tweeted -- were being treated and the way it was happening -- when I was there the flights arriving there were women and children and older people and people and even for me as a young healthy person and was very difficult to go through that. I think with any security measures I really feel that people being treated in such inhumane ways can be avoided and I hope -- I feel that there can be security without the things that happened in the last weeks happening to people who are innocent and pose no threat. Has what you experienced a few weeks ago maybe rethink how you feel about this country. In the last three weeks and especially in that week between being deported and coming back another thing which happened is that also -- me and my family received so much support from people here. From both emails and social media there was so much words of support and people offering to help. I have the help of the ACLU lawyers but there are others contacting me saying we have heard about your case how can we help. There were people that we did not know same how can we help with different things. Do you need a place to stay with you need anything and never really thousands of messages online and so many emails and for me that is the true American people and that for me is what I know of America and so I still feel the same way I have about the American people which in this week's I have also seen some of support from them. I have been speaking with and submitted -- Encinitas student Sarah Yarjani thank you so much.

As President Donald Trump prepares a second version of his travel ban on refugees and immigrants, one Encinitas student caught up in the confusion of the first executive order is still trying to get over the experience.

Sara Yarjani is an Iranian national. She is a permanent resident of Austria and has a student visa in the U.S.

In late January, as Trump's travel ban was going into effect, Yarjani was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and put on a flight back to Austria.

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"The way that me and others were being treated, and the way it was happening, there was women, children, older people, sick people and even for me as a young person it was very difficult to go through that," Yarjani said. "I feel there can be security without the things that happened in the last weeks happening to people who are innocent and pose no threat."

With the help of attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union of Los Angeles, Yarjani was able to return to the U.S. on Feb. 5.

Yarjani, a student at the California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas, shares her experience and her hopes and fears for a new travel ban Tuesday on Midday Edition.