FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ An Iranian-born green-card holder said he was detained for more than two hours before being released after leaving from a cruise ship at Port Everglades Sunday morning.
If confirmed, it would be among the first instances of cruise-ship passenger being subjected to further scrutiny upon re-entry to the country since President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that temporarily banned refugees, visa holders, and green card holders from seven majority Muslim nations, including Iran, from entering the United States.
Maysam Sodagari, of San Francisco, a permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for nine years, said he was singled out, ushered into a small interview room in the terminal and questioned by federal agents after arriving on the Allure of the Seas. He had taken a weeklong cruise in the Caribbean.
"I was very nervous, confused," said Sodagari, a researcher in biotechnology who said he has not been back to Iran since he emigrated to the U.S.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to emails or phone calls Sunday.
Sodagari said he became alarmed after he heard about Trump's order Friday evening and began posting about his concerns the next day on Facebook.
"I left the port with a legal status for a gay cruise," Sodagari wrote. "Now I may not be able to enter the U.S. tomorrow. My future is all unclear just by a sudden change in the law. If I get detained and sent back to Iran, at least I lived the life to the fullest as a gay man in the U.S., and I want to thank you all for being part of the experience."
Miami immigration attorney Ira Kurzban said he was contacted Saturday by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and others following Sadagari's Facebook postings, and asked to prepare a legal motion seeking Sadagari's release if he were detained. That was not necessary.
"The real problem here is the executive order," Kurzban said. "On its face it overly broad, poorly written, poorly executed. And anti-Muslim and anti-constitutional."
Sodagari described the officials he dealt with at Port Everglades as "very nice, friendly, professional." After more than two hours, he was released, he said.
"I was very worried," said Eric Hammonds, a Wilton Manors real estate broker traveling with Sodagari. "It is so haphazard. It seems like they can do anything they want."
Sodagari was met at the port by several supporters who followed his Facebook postings. He made two posts while he was in the interview room.
"We believe (the executive order) is an unconscionable order," said attorney Khurrum Wahid. "He is a green-card holder who has been through the (vetting) process. He should not have been detained."
Also on hand to support Sodagari was Jaime Bayo, executive director of the OUT Miami Foundation. "We are very concerned that this should happen to anybody with legal status," he said.
Sodagari said that he would spend Sunday night in South Florida before returning home to San Francisco on Monday.
