Family endures ‘scary, stressful’ airport wait because of Trump immigration order

A Henderson couple were held for roughly 10 hours at Chicago O’Hare International Airport before they finally made their way back home Saturday night, according to their daughter-in-law Bita Nasri.

The couple had the snag because of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. A federal judge in New York issued an emergency stay to block implementation of Trump’s executive order Saturday evening, putting a halt to possible deportations.

Nasri said her in-laws, Mohammad Hossein Nasri and Farania Moghimi, were held while returning from a trip to Iran for their son’s wedding. The couple are legal residents and have lived in the Las Vegas Valley for five years.

After a lengthy process that involved calls to the Border Patrol and help from the ACLU and the office of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., Bita Nasri confirmed that the couple were being held in Chicago, and after the order was lifted, Nasri’s mother-in-law called to say that they would be coming home.

“It’s been exhausting and scary and stressful because we had no contact with them and we had no information,” she said.

This elderly Syrian couple were questioned for many hours and just released at Mccarran Airport because of Trump's unconstitutional order. pic.twitter.com/zJo9eFXqvm

— ACLU of Nevada (@ACLUNV) January 29, 2017

Nasri said she wasn’t notified of the fact that her in-laws were being held and heard of the ban through the news.

She worried about her mother-in-law’s health and began making calls, but she couldn’t get through to border patrol after the first call.

“Imagine your parents, your in-laws traveling, and then all of a sudden you have no contact with them. How would you feel?” she asked.

Both of her in-laws are retired, though her father-in-law does part-time work. The couple moved to Henderson from Iran, where they both worked in education.

Since then, they’ve been helping behind the scenes with the family’s launch of a school, the Nasri Academy for Gifted Children, which debuted in September.

ACLU Nevada legal director Amy Rose said neither border nor customs personnel were cooperative when she and an attorney from the American Immigration Lawyers Association arrived at McCarran International Airport about 2 p.m. Saturday to aid anyone affected by Trump’s order.

They arrived about 4½ hours before the emergency stay.

“One of the frustrations we’ve run into is that customs and border protection keep directing us to the airport public information officer,” Rose said. “We aren’t getting any official answers.”

As of 9 p.m. Saturday, no one had been detained at McCarran International Airport, airport Chief Marketing Officer Chris Jones said.

At least a dozen protesters were seen about 6:30 p.m. in McCarran’s Terminal 3, but they were asked to stop by the Metropolitan Police Department for not requesting a protest permit. People wishing to demonstrate at the airport must complete paperwork and get airport directors’ approval, Jones said.

Metro officers had protesters ditch their signs before escorting them to the international arrivals area to join Rose.

By 9 p.m., Rose and a few protesters were left, waiting with a man expecting his parents on a British Airways flight from London. The man’s parents and sister, coming to visit him, were questioned for at least an hour when boarding their flight in London, Rose said. Only his parents were allowed on the flight to Las Vegas, leaving his sister behind.

His parents, who are Syrian citizens, have American travel documents but were held at McCarran for more than two hours after landing at about 7 p.m. They were released about 10:20 p.m.

Rose said she’ll follow up with the father to obtain details about the delay at McCarran and to gather facts on the sister’s case.

Review-Journal writer Jessica Terrones contributed to this report. Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @pashtana_u on Twitter. Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.