Syrian who worked on Oscar-nominated film barred from entering U.S.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara of "The White Helmets," Academy Award nominee for Documentary (Short Subject), pose at a reception at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California U.S., February 22, 2017. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
A Syrian cinematographer up for an Academy Award Sunday night has been reportedly barred from entering the U.S. over the finding of "derogatory information"-- a vague term that can mean anything from a simple passport irregularity to terror connections.
Khaled Khateeb, 21, who worked on the Netflix documentary "White Helmets," was scheduled to arrive in California on Saturday.
He was issued a visa to attend the awards show, however the Associated Press’ internal U.S. government correspondence reported that Turkish authorities detained him this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Khateeb needed a passport waiver from the U.S. to enter the country. The correspondence indicated he would not receive such a waiver. There was no further explanation into why Turkey detained Khateeb.
"A valid travel document is required for travel to the United States," a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security told the Associated Press when asked for a comment on the findings.
According to internal Trump administration correspondence seen by The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security decided to block Khateeb.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.