Canadian citizens born in Iran are being blocked from entering the United States after undergoing questioning at the border, the Canadian daily newspaper Globe and Mail reported citing immigration lawyers and advisers.
The report said that after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office on Jan. 20 mandating enhanced scrutiny of foreign nationals Iranian-Canadians have faced heightened border security.
The report highlighted specific cases since that time, citing immigration lawyer Melissa Babel, who described two Iranian-Canadians who were recently denied entry.
According to Babel, both individuals, who had lived in Canada for decades, were questioned closely about their military service in Iran. US border agents asked them to provide proof that they had never served in the Iranian military, which is a major concern due to the US designation of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
One of the men, who frequently traveled to the US for business, was denied entry and later found that his Nexus card—used for expedited US border processing—had been canceled. The other man, traveling with his Iranian-Canadian wife and Canadian-born daughter, was also refused entry.
The report cited legal experts who have called on Ottawa to issue a travel advisory warning that Canadian citizens and residents from Iran risk being denied entry, having their visas or Nexus cards revoked, or even being detained or deported when traveling to the US.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported citing informed sources and an internal memo that the Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban.
The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.
