a day ago
French Lawmaker Says He Was Denied Entry Into the United States
A French member of Parliament has urged American authorities to reverse a decision to deny him entry to the United States, after he said they rejected his request for a visa to meet with progressive lawmakers and intellectuals about life under the Trump presidency.
Pouria Amirshahi, a member of the Green party, said he had planned to travel to Washington D.C., New York and Boston this month. The trip was supposed to be the first taken by a member of La Digue, or The Dike, a group that he created a month ago with a handful of other leftist and centrist French lawmakers, to 'counter the spread of neo-fascism' in liberal democracies.
At a news conference at the French National Assembly on Thursday morning, Mr. Amirshahi said he had told U.S. authorities that the purpose of his trip was to ask lawmakers, activists, professors and journalists to understand 'what the new situation was in the country since Mr. Trump came to power.'
He was set to meet with progressive lawmakers, he said, including Senator Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, and Representative Maxine Dexter, Democrat of Oregon. But, he said, on Tuesday, he was told that his visa application had been rejected.
'The door was shut in a rather abrupt and unexpected manner,' Mr. Amirshahi said in a telephone interview. 'This is a decision that we consider to be both hostile and unfriendly.'
A member of his team said later on Thursday that the embassy was 'reconsidering the reasons for the refusal.'
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