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Australian author Yassmin Abdel-Magied says she has been deported from the US.
In a series of tweets, Ms Abdel-Magied said she was put back on a plane after arriving at Minneapolis airport ahead of an appearance at an April 18 event in New York called The M Word: No Country for Young Muslim Women.
The controversial TV personality, who moved from Australia to the UK in 2017, said US authorities cancelled her visa and took her passport and phone.
She said she was not given any reason for her deportation.
In a statement, US Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the ABC that Ms Abdel-Magied was refused entry because she had the wrong travel visa.
"During the inspection, CBP officers determined this individual [Ms Abdel-Magied] did not possess the appropriate visa to receive monetary compensation for the speaking engagements she had planned during her visit to the United States," a CBP spokesperson said.
"As such, she was deemed inadmissible to enter the United States for her visit, but was allowed to withdraw her application for admission. The traveller is eligible to reapply for a visa for future visits."
Ms Abdel-Magied was born in Sudan but said she was travelling on her Australian passport.
Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge earlier told Sky News he had not heard the details of the incident, but that "it is unusual for an Australian citizen to not be granted a visa to go into the US".
"I just don't know the details underpinning this and whether or not it was that she had a tourist visa but perhaps there was evidence that she was going to do other things there other than being a tourist," he said.
"Every Australian citizen has the right to consular access so she has that right as well."
In its statement the CBP added "it is important to note that issuance of a visa or a visa waiver does not guarantee entry to the US."
Festival representative: 'We are dismayed'
The event Ms Abdel-Mageid was due to speak at was part of the annual PEN World Voices Festival, which starts on Monday next week.
A spokesperson said they were "dismayed" that an invited guest was turned away by US immigration officials.
"[Ms] Abdel-Magied is an advocate of the rights of Muslim women and refugees and is a citizen of Australia, travelling on that country's passport."
The spokesperson said they understood Ms Abdel-Mageid was travelling on a type of visa she had used in the past for similar trips without any issues.
"We call on Customs and Border Patrol to admit her to the US so that she can take her rightful place in the urgent international conversation to take place at the festival next week."
Campaigner on diversity and religious issues
Ms Abdel-Mageid, a mechanical engineer and writer and the former host of ABC's Australia Wide, has been a vocal campaigner on diversity and religious issues and her TED talk "What does my headscarf mean to you?" has been viewed almost 1.5 million times online.
She was named the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year for her work heading up Youth Without Borders, an international organisation she founded to enable young people to work for positive change in their communities.
Ms Abdel-Mageid left Australia last year to partake in what she called an "Aussie rite of passage".
Her move came after she attracted controversy for getting into a shouting match with former Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie on Q&A over sharia law.
She also drew criticism for a Facebook post on Anzac Day last year, that she later deleted, saying: "Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine…)."
Ms Abdel-Mageid has called herself the "most publicly hated Muslim in Australia" and said it was "exhausting" to be the subject of controversy in Australia.
Speaking to ABC podcast It's Not a Race, Ms Abdel-Magied said she felt "shattered" and "betrayed" by the backlash of Australian media following the ANZAC day post.
"I genuinely felt like Australia was rejecting me," she said.
The ABC has approached Ms Abdel-Magied for comment.
Topics: foreign-affairs, activism-and-lobbying, immigration, united-states
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