Syria-born City worker slams Donald Trump's travel ban after being refused entry to US

City banking professional Lara Khalaf slams Donald Trump's travel ban.
Naomi Ackerman @nomiackerman14 September 2018

A City worker has slammed Donald Trump’s travel ban as “totally unnecessary discrimination” after being refused entry to the US to film in Hollywood.

Syrian-born Lara Khalaf, 39, who has held an EU passport for 23 years, applied for a visa to take part in a documentary on inspirational international women.

The leadership coach was the “only woman from the Arab world” invited for the programme, being made this week for American public broadcaster PBS — and the only person denied entry to the country.

She has held a Spanish passport since she was 14, but said the US embassy had put her application on hold indefinitely because she “could not confirm what passport was used to travel from Syria to Madrid at that time”.

Lara Khalaf, 39, has held an EU passport for 23 years.

Ms Khalaf, of Lewisham, said: “I have lived in London for 13 years. I worked in banking and now work with finance clients and all these have strict protocols, so my record is impeccable. I have been to the US before. I even went to New York after the Syrian war had started in 2011. When I had my interview with the embassy, a month before I was due to travel, I kept thinking, why am I being treated like this? When I was told it was because I was Syrian it made me feel heavy with sadness.”

A temporary travel ban on citizens from several majority-Muslim countries, including Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia, is in place in the US. It has faced protests and legal challenges and was initially declared unconstitutional, but a version of the original ban was partly reinstated in July.

To apply for entry Ms Khalaf answered extensive questions and presented a letter of invitation from the California-based production company. “I presented 30 pages of further evidence,” she said. “I have never ever felt prejudiced against before and I will not let this make me feel that way. I phoned up many times and emailed, including my MP, who has been wonderful. I’ve used social media and tagged the embassy to try and make people realise the effect of the travel ban is real.”

Lewisham East MP Heidi Alexander wrote to the embassy on behalf of Ms Khalaf, but was told on October 2 that her constituent’s documents to prove how she travelled from Aleppo to Madrid in 1994 were under “further review”. Darla Boone, executive producer at Boone Media Productions, which is making the film about the Phenomenal Global Women’s event, said: “I sent a note [for Ms Khalaf to give to the embassy] explaining we were inviting her.”

She added in a message to Ms Khalaf: “It saddens me to know the travel ban has had an impact on your freedom.”

A US embassy spokesman said: “For privacy considerations we never comment on individual visa cases.”

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