Teacher barred from entering US says embassy denies incident ever happened

A Welsh school teacher barred from entering the United States following Donald Trump's travel ban said the US has denied the incident ever happened.

Maths teacher Juhel Miah, a Bangladeshi Muslim who speaks with a broad Welsh accent, was removed from a plane bound for New York by security officers while accompanying a school trip to the States, with footage of the incident widely circulated on social media.

Despite repeated requests for answers, both at the time and since the incident in February, the teacher remains mystified as to why he was bumped off, with the US embassy since denying the incident took place.

Addressing delegates at the NUT conference in Cardiff, the Llangatwg Comprehensive teacher said: "Of course I thought it was a joke and asked on what grounds they were denying me access.

"Still to this day I have not had a reason as to why I was taken off that flight.

"Of course I had all the support of all the teachers.

"I am still doing everything I can to get an answer.

"The last email I had was from the American embassy and the very last paragraph says: 'Mr Miah has never applied for a visa, nor has he ever been denied entry to America.'

"What was I meant to say to that?

"I've got plenty of footage of me being escorted off the plane, I've got an ESTA (travel visa).

"Even though I've got every proof, every document needed (to travel to the US) - these are the people I'm dealing with."

President Trump's travel ban was announced at the end of his first week in office.

In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.

While the White House said that he was fulfilling a campaign promise to toughen vetting procedures for people coming from countries with terror ties, the order caused chaos at airports in the US and sparked protests across the country.

Mr Miah said: "(I thought) 'What on earth is going on?' What a message that was to the children on my flight.

"The hardest thing for me was to go back to school. I was dreading what they were thinking. Thank god they know who I am.

"What I hate is that I was taken away from doing my job, there were nine boys on there I was in charge of, and I was taken off without being given a reason.

"I'm going to try and get an explanation."