Katy High School Student Being Held In Chicago Allegedly Violated His Visa Terms: Updated

Updated Feb. 1: Mohammad Abu Khadra, the Katy High School student who was detained on Saturday at Bush Intercontinental Airport and is being held by federal immigration authorities in Chicago, had reportedly violated the terms of his visa.

His brother, Rami Abu Khadra, who lives in Katy, said his family was told on Tuesday that Mohammad holds a tourist visa but needs a student visa to attend classes.

"I tried to get him some English so he could speak some English," Rami Khadra told KPRC.

Government regulations stipulate that citizens of foreign countries who wish to study at a high school must hold an F-1 visa. There are exceptions, according to the U.S. Department of State. For example, for brief periods of recreational study, a visitor visa may be appropriate. Reports indicate that Mohammad was fully enrolled at Katy High School, which would be a violation of his visa.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Mohammad's lawyers had not been able to speak with the youth since his detainment and that it would take an additional three to five days for all of the required paperwork to be processed before they can communicate with him.

"My experience talking to the client (Rami Khadra), my observations at the airport as a volunteer and my discussions with other attorneys around the country leaves me to believe that Customs and Border Protection at the airport is pulling all Muslim travelers, even those not from the seven listed countries, for secondary inspection and questioning them and reviewing their documents for three to nine hours," Ali Zakaria, one of Mohammad's attorneys, told the Tribune.

Zakaria added that immigration authorities routinely separate minors from adults, but that he did not know why Mohammad was taken to Chicago. Zakaria's firm is attempting to reunite the brothers, whose parents reside in Jordan.

A representative at Zakaria's firm contacted today in Houston confirmed that no one with the firm had spoken with Mohammad since his detainment. Calls to Katy High School were not immediately returned.

Jan. 31: A teenager who attends high school in Katy was being held by federal authorities in Chicago today after he returned to Houston from Jordan, where he was renewing his visa.

According to the Houston Chronicle, 16-year-old Mohammad Abu Khadra was detained at Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday. He was transferred to Chicago on Monday, where he is being held.

Immigration authorities at Bush canceled his visa on Saturday and detained him for about 72 hours, according to the Chronicle. It is unclear if Khadra's detainment stemmed from President Trump's executive order temporarily banning travel from seven countries — Jordan is not on the list — or from issues with his visa.

"My country is not one of seven countries on the list," Rami Khadra, the detainee's brother, told the Chronicle. "It's like because he's from the Middle East, he gets detained." Rami Khadra was told that his brother could be detained in Chicago for as many as two months.

"I'm trying to fly out to Chicago, trying to reach out people. I just want to see him," he told the paper. "I'm trying very hard to just see him or hear from him or anything. I need to see if he needs money or anything."

Calls to immigration officials were not immediately returned.

Image courtesy Katy Alumni