Nine Chinese students from Arizona State University detained at Los Angeles airport and sent back to China
- School officials demand to know why students were ‘deemed inadmissible’ despite having visas
- All students affected were undergrads, including at least one engineer, one student studying supply-chain management and some life sciences majors
Nine Chinese students who attend Arizona State University were denied entry into the US when they arrived at Los Angeles International airport last month and university officials are demanding to know why the students were sent back to China.
The students were detained at LAX in the days before the start of classes on August 22 and were on their way to the university’s Phoenix-area campuses, school officials said. But they were “deemed inadmissible” by Customs and Border Protection.
University officials said all the students were academically eligible to return to ASU and to the US under their visas.
A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that there are more than 60 reasons a foreigner might be considered inadmissible, including health-related grounds, criminality, security reasons and immigration violations.
The statement said the Chinese students were deemed inadmissible “based on information discovered during the CBP inspection”, but did not elaborate.