A group of Bay Area congressional leaders is demanding answers after two Palestinian visitors were detained at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday and deported the following day, drawing sharp criticism from elected officials and other civic organizations.
The two visitors, who were scheduled to appear at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont and at other interfaith events in the region, were held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection upon arrival Wednesday. They were sent back home via Jordan on Thursday, despite the fact they had valid visas, according to organizers.
“We call upon Customs and Border Protection to immediately respond to congressional inquiries and provide the justification behind these individuals’ continued detainment and threatened deportation,” read a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon by 10 Democratic members of Congress. “By inexplicably revoking visas, (President Donald) Trump’s CBP is discrediting America’s reputation abroad and breeding further distrust of our immigration system.”
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Hundreds of supporters protested the detentions at the airport on Thursday, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which identified the two visitors as Eid Hthaleen and Ouda Alhadlin of Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian community in the West Bank.
The joint statement was signed by Reps. Sam Liccardo, Nancy Pelosi, Ro Khanna, Kevin Mullin, Zoe Lofgren, Lateefah Simon, Eric Swalwell, Mike Thompson, John Garamendi and Jared Huffman.
Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area office of CAIR, said the activists were detained for more than 24 hours and expressed concern over what she described as politically motivated enforcement.
“We were inspired by the support and by the interfaith nature of their trip,” Billoo said. “This is just one example of the chaos the government creates in the way it treats immigrants.”
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine also condemned the deportations.
“Both visitors – invited by the Bay Area Jewish community to share firsthand testimony about nonviolent resistance and prospects for a just peace – posed no security risk,” the group said in a statement. “Rather, their exclusion chills legitimate discourse and weakens transnational efforts to promote peace and reconciliation.”
Despite their removal, Kehilla Community Synagogue announced on their website the two speakers would still address the audience virtually Friday evening.
A representative for CBP confirmed receipt of an inquiry from this news organization but had not responded to questions about the reasons for the detention and deportation as of press time Friday.
The incident comes amid growing tensions between California officials and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement.
Protests in Los Angeles led to the federal deployment of the National Guard to Southern California, bypassing the authority of Gov. Gavin Newsom — a move denounced by state leaders. Border Czar Tom Homan recently warned state officials, including Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, not to interfere with immigration operations, threatening them with possible arrest.
Newsom earlier this week sued the Trump administration to regain authority over the California National Guard.
More protests against Trump’s policies, branded as “No Kings” rallies, are planned in cities across the Bay Area and nationwide Saturday.