Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was questioned for seven hours at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on June 5 before U.S. authorities allowed him into the country, while a second member of the delegation, photographer Talal Salah, was denied entry. The detentions hit Iraq's World Cup travel party as it arrived in Chicago for a tune-up match against Venezuela, turning a routine team journey into an airport delay that stretched late into Friday night.
Ali Challabi, who said he was in Chicago with his son from Houston to watch the match, said word of the airport hold-up spread quickly back home. "Everybody in Iraq, they're talking about this," he said, adding that it felt wrong for an international player who was only there to do his job. Iraq was scheduled to face Venezuela at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview on Tuesday night.
The extra screening came as the Iraqi national team flew in from Dubai International Airport and went through processing at O'Hare, where two travelers were pulled aside for additional inspection. One was admitted. The other, a photographer and not a player, was turned away because of vetting concerns, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The agency said admissibility decisions are made case by case and that all travelers seeking entry are subject to inspection and vetting.
Within the Iraqi camp, the reaction was sharper than the official language coming from the airport. A source in the delegation said the team did not believe it was being singled out for political reasons, even though two members were detained and one was denied entry, and pointed to reports that a Somali referee and a Swiss player also had been refused entry when they arrived in the U.S. for the World Cup. That leaves the most immediate question unanswered: why Hussein and Salah were chosen for additional scrutiny in the first place, and whether the airport episode will complicate Iraq's preparation before Tuesday's match in Bridgeview.
