Alistair Kitchen says he was detained and questioned about views on Israel and Palestine before being deported from LA to Melbourne
An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
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The 33-year-old said he was “clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons” and said officials spent more than 30 minutes questioning him about his views on Israel and Palestine including his “thoughts on Hamas”.
Kitchen said officials asked him for his “thoughts about the conflict in a very broad sense”, including about student protesters, what Israel “should have done differently” and “how I would resolve the conflict”.
“It was quite an in-depth probing of my views on the war,” he said.
Kitchen said he was deported and landed back in Melbourne on Saturday morning.
