WASHINGTON—U.S. immigration authorities have decided to bar entry to a 21-year-old Syrian cinematographer whose harrowing film about his nation’s civil war, The White Helmets, has been nominated for an Academy Award.
According to internal Trump administration correspondence seen by The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security has decided at the last minute to block Khaled Khatib from travelling to Los Angeles for the Oscars.
Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald TrumpEND
Khatib was scheduled to arrive Saturday in Los Angeles on a Turkish Airlines flight departing from Istanbul. But his plans have been upended after U.S. officials reported finding “derogatory information” against Khalid.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment. Derogatory information is a broad category that can include everything from terror connections to passport irregularities.
Read more:
Oscar nominees have powerful messages of love for the troubled present: Timson
Academy Awards still lagging in female and minority representation
It’s Oscar pool time: Star movie critic Peter Howell picks the winners
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
