San Francisco

CAIR demands answers after 2 Palestinians detained at SFO

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The country's largest Muslim rights group gathered at San Francisco International Airport Thursday morning demanding answers after two Palestinians were detained.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, said the two Palestinians were invited to speak at inter-faith events and raise money for children suffering in Gaza. But when they arrived at SFO on Wednesday, they were denied entry even though Border Patrol told CAIR they had valid visas.

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San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, the city's first Muslim supervisor, said he went to the airport overnight to try to get answers from Border Patrol.

"This is just an escalating indication of the constitutional crisis that we are facing in our country right now where even people on valid tourist visas, people who are here on inter-faith missions and humanitarian causes can be denied entry and having their voice be silenced," he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, it wasn't clear if the two people had been released or flown back to Jordan.

NBC Bay Area reached out to Border Patrol to learn more.

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