The Latest: Graham: ‘I’ll find a way to fix this problem’

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Latest on a South Carolina resident trying to return from Iran (all times local):

1:20 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries should be modified, and he’s working to get Nazanin Zinouri back to South Carolina “as soon as possible.”

Graham told people at Zinouri’s workplace in Clemson on Monday that the 29-year-old Clemson University graduate “is exactly the type of person we want to be part of America.”

Zinouri left on Jan. 20 for what was supposed to be a vacation to see family in Iran. After Trump signed the order temporarily banning entry from citizens of Iran and six other nations, she says she tried to get back but was taken off a plane in Dubai.

Graham says that’s a mistake. He says Trump can limit some people coming into the country, but an executive order can’t “arbitrarily yank” someone’s existing legal status.

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This item has been corrected to reflect that Zinouri left the U.S. on Jan. 20, not last Friday.

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3:30 a.m.

A South Carolina woman who went to visit her family in Iran now worries if she’ll ever be allowed back. Nazanin Zinouri said in a phone interview Sunday with The Associated Press that she left Jan. 20 for Tehran.

The 29-year-old Zinouri, who has a doctorate from Clemson University, is among those caught up in the chaos surrounding an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that temporarily bans the entry of citizens from seven countries, including Iran. She has a visa and works for a technology company in Clemson.

Zinouri got as far as Dubai but was denied boarding on a flight to Washington, D.C.

Her employer hopes to hire an attorney to help her.

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