A top lecturer has been refused entry to Britain after he returned to Gatwick from a trip with colleagues.
Dr Paul Hamilton, who teaches Shakespeare seminars at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, London, landed at Gatwick Airport following a trip to Iceland on Monday.
But the 44-year-old, who is from California, was put on a flight back to Reykjavik despite having a stamp in his passport granting him permission to enter the UK for six months.
The Shakespeare expert last year said he was treated ‘like a common criminal’ when immigration officials put him in custody after his student visa expired.
Dr Hamilton, who graduated with his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2015, was horrified when he was thrown into an immigration cell for ten hours in January 2016.
He was later deported to his home state of Arizona as an overstayer.
He was granted permission to teach in Britain again, arriving in the country on November 14 on a six month visa.
But his second deportation this week has sparked outrage among his colleagues.
Timo Uotinen, who was travelling to Iceland with Dr Hamilton for a memorial service, took to Twitter to share his dismay at border control officials, keeping his followers updated throughout his friends arrest.
He wrote: ‘Coming back to the UK the border officials deem [Paul] some kind of risk and keep him for an “interview” even though he was given a 6 month visa. I see him sequestered into a holding pen and twice questioned by a young official suddenly wearing cuffs and a baton.
‘[Paul] is taken to the customs table and people walking by the spectacle of Paul’s belongings being meticulously examined.. the he is taken back downstairs for “a more in depth interview”.
‘On Nov 14 [Paul] got a 6 month visa and now he is being detained for questioning with the threat of deporting him to Iceland. I feel really bad for Paul: he is being treated like a criminal with no justification.’
He later added: ‘I get that the UK border people are just doing their job and this kind of treatment is dictated from above. People who have a visa should not be detained in this manner. And this is not even yet on the issue of immigration detention. #HumanRights’
Mr Uotinen said Dr Hamilton was put on a flight from Gatwick to Iceland at 10.20am after several hours of questioning.
He added border officials handed Dr Hamilton ‘a note informing him that they think he is deceitful’, and said the evidence used against him was his bank card ‘failing to work at an ATM’.
The Home Office has been approached for comment.