Gay Cruise Passenger Detained by U.S. Customs Over Muslim Ban

By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

Maysam Sodagari, a legal permanent resident and Iranian citizen, was forced to wait at Terminal 18 at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, Jan.29, 2017 due to President Trump executive order banning Muslims from coming into the country until they are extremely vetted.

Maysam Sodagari, a passenger on an annual gay cruise, gave a running Facebook account of his detention, including two Facebook Live videos.

According to Sodagari’s accounts, the three hour ordeal was something to write home about. He was finally able to exit Terminal 18 with his bags and step foot on American soil. Sodagari posted a minute later: “I am free to go back home.”

Several news media outlets including this one have attempted to get comment from Maysam Sodagari but as of the posting of this article, he was unable to be reached for comment.

Also in President Trump’s executive order of restrictions are a 90-day hold on U.S. entrance for citizens who are coming from predominantly Muslim countries including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. However, no mention of Saudi Arabia which is where the 9/11 terrorist originated from. On top of that Iraq is on the list! This is truly frightening. We have not seen this type of backlash across the country and the western world since the early part of the 20th century.

Unfortunately President Trump nor his staff seem to be willing to deal with this reality and are saying that everything is fine. We can only hope that some one with backbone in the white house will step up and give the new president a dose of reality.