Iranian grad student with US visa returns to LA after being turned away due to travel ban

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- An international graduate student returned to Los Angeles on Sunday after initially being unable to enter the U.S. due to President Donald Trump's immigration ban, which was under a temporary restraining order.

Sara Yarjani arrived to a warm welcome at LAX following a ruling by a federal appeals court judge who denied the Justice Department's request for a reinstatement of the ban.

Yarjani, an Iranian citizen with a U.S. student visa, was greeted in a terminal with cheers and hugs from her sister and supporters.

Just over a week ago, she arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Vienna, Austria, and was detained by Customs and Border Patrol Officials and then forced to leave the country.

Trump's executive order, barring travel to the U.S. from seven predominantly-Muslim countries, had gone into effect hours before Yarjani landed. Since then, several protests have been held at LAX and across the country.

An emotional Yarjani on Sunday thanked the civil-rights attorneys and several other advocates who assisted her.

"I was detained here for 23 hours last week," she told reporters. "By the time I was back in Vienna it was 77 hours before I got there, and since that time until now there's been so many messages and calls and emails and everything -- from people that I don't even know - of support and love, and I'm so grateful."

Yarjani, a student at California Institute for Human Science, in Encinitas, said things went smoothly after her arrival this time and she was treated well by officials at the airport.