Taha Tariq ’28 was driving back from Montreal with three other Dartmouth students in August when they were stopped at the border crossing in Derby Line, Vermont. Tariq, a British citizen, was told he could not enter. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stated he “was determined to be inadmissible and was denied entry.”
More than a month later, Tariq was still stuck in Canada and told he was banned from the United States for five years for reasons that remained unclear. He was fighting the border agency’s decision but bracing for a lengthy legal fight.
“The case may take up to a year, and I’m uncertain if I’ll make it back,” says Tariq, who finished his Sophomore Summer courses remotely. “The best-case scenario would be that I could come back for senior year.”
Tariq is one of the first Dartmouth students to get caught up in the Trump administration’s border crackdown. A College spokeswoman said Dartmouth “continues to support our student through this ongoing situation.”
Tariq says he has been touched by the support: “Dartmouth is more home to me than any place, including London, so it makes me super appreciative that I have people looking out for me.” He is currently on Dartmouth’s history foreign study program in London, and the College is helping him plan an exchange at the University of Melbourne next year.
He is looking to connect with people or foundations that can help him afford specialist legal representation so he can finish his degree in New Hampshire, noting, “Studying abroad is a way to keep moving forward, not a replacement for what I’ve lost. More than anything, I want to be back in Hanover studying alongside my friends and eventually walk across the stage at Dartmouth.”
