Saira Raifee, CUNY Student Stranded By Immigration Ban, Returns To U.S. (Updates)

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Two CUNY students prevented from re-entering the United States at the end of January by Donald Trump's executive immigration order have returned to the United States.

One is a Yemeni undergraduate who asked to remain anonymous, as reported by WNYC. The second is Saira Raifee, a CUNY graduate student, Iranian national, and Lefferts Gardens resident.

"I am pleased to report that as a result of the combined efforts of our community, an extraordinary sequence of last-minute court decisions, and the tenacity of our student, I have just received confirmation that Saira Rafiee has been granted re-entry to the United States and will soon be returning to the Graduate Center," CUNY President Chase F. Robinson said in a Friday statement.

"We are extremely grateful that our efforts to connect Ms. Rafiee with legal assistance were successful," Robinson continued. "While the executive order's long-term repercussions on the academy remain cause for concern, today we take a brief moment to celebrate and very much look forward to welcoming Ms. Rafiee back to campus."

CUNY students and faculty members, as well as Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, held a rally last week in support of Rafiee, who is studying political science.

The university initially estimated that about 120 students, plus additional faculty members, could be impacted by the travel ban Trump put in place, which immediately prevented nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from re-entering the U.S. The order has since been blocked by several federal judges, though Trump said he'll fight those decisions.

CUNY spokeswoman Ruth Landa subsequently said the school believed two students, including Raifee, had been kept out of the country by the ban. However, WNYC reported Monday that Trump's executive order kept four students, including Raifee and the Yemeni undergraduate, out of the country. Two of those four had yet to return, according to the station.

Pictured at top: Saira Rafiee. Image via Facebook.