U.S. Customs detains Palestinians with valid visas at S.F. airport

Two Palestinian men visiting the Bay Area for an interfaith humanitarian mission had their visas revoked after landing in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, according to their sponsor, a local Jewish synagogue leader. 

Eid Hthaleen and Ouda Alhadlin arrived at SFO around 1 p.m. to share their experiences living in the West Bank and to visit various houses of worship, like Christian churches and the Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, that have supported them and their village.

Instead, their sponsor learned that the two men’s visas had been canceled and that they would be deported on a flight out of the country. They were put in detention shortly after landing and, as of 8 a.m. on Thursday, were still held in custody.

“If people are coming here with valid visas and immigration papers, and even they are being turned away … what does this mean for the rest of the residents who live in San Francisco and the country?” District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told Mission Local over the phone from the San Francisco airport, where he had traveled late Wednesday night and posted video of himself calling on the federal government to reverse course.

“This is another example of an escalating constitutional crisis in our country,” he said. 

Both men are from Masafer Yatta, a group of villages that has been targeted for destruction by Israel over decades and was recently featured in the Oscar-winning “No Other Land.”

Customs and Border Protection did not immediately return a request for comment. San Francisco has seen more than 20 ICE detentions over the past week, with people arrested at the ICE field office or at immigration court, separated from family members, and flown across the country.   

Phillip Weintraub, who is Jewish and a lead organizer of a Palestinian solidarity committee at the Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, said he was the main coordinator helping the two men enter the country. He arrived at the airport around 1 p.m. to pick them up, but neither man exited customs. 

Weintraub, who is also an immigration attorney, said he had seen copies of both men’s visas. One had an existing visa from a visit last year. The other is a teacher and had a new visa issued in May. 

Both men live in a Bedouin village that Weintraub described as “under siege by Jewish settlers and Israeli forces.” One of the men’s family homes, for example, was destroyed last summer by bulldozers.

“Everything about their visit was straightforward, aboveboard,” Weintraub said. “Cultivating relationships between Christians and Jewish and Palestinian community, which seems to be a rather laudable, wonderful thing.” 

When Hthaleen and Alhadlin didn’t come out at the arrivals gate, Weintraub and the broader community that was expecting them began making calls all the way up to Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s office. 

Over the next several hours, Weintraub kept trying to ask questions of Customs and Border Protection officials, but didn’t learn much until 10:30 p.m., when he was given a “courtesy call.” 

Weintraub was told he could speak to either man until they are on a plane back to the West Bank. Immigrants on revoked visas have no right to counsel, said Weintraub.

When Mission Local interviewed him around midnight, Weintraub was still at SFO, hoping to draw attention to what he called an “outrageous injustice.” 

“They just want to live in their village and have no desire to harm anyone,” he said. “And they are trying to share their experience of how hard it is, and the role of the U.S. government in supporting Israel … and express their appreciation with communities that have supported them over the years.” 

At around 8 a.m. on Thursday, the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for a rally at SFO to demand the “immediate release” of both men.