U.S. blocks White Helmet member from the Oscars

Though only 40 minutes long, The White Helmets may not be an easy documentary to watch.

Filmed in war-ravaged Syria, its tense scenes capture children being pulled, crying and bloody, out of rubble. Billowing clouds of dust engulf nearby buildings following airstrikes. Throughout, there is the constant spectre of death.

The documentary focuses on the Syrian Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, a group of Syrian civilians — from bakers to tailors to engineers — who have volunteered to act as first responders amid their country’s brutal, years-long civil war. Almost daily, the White Helmets risk their lives by rushing into just-bombed areas of Aleppo to search for survivors.

A handful of those White Helmets, including 21-year-old Khaled Khatib, took additional hazards by filming such rescue work. Khatib, who is listed as one of three cinematographers for The White Helmets, was thrilled when the Netflix documentary was nominated for an Academy Award.

After weeks of uncertainty following U.S. President Donald Trump’s now-frozen travel ban, Khatib was granted a visa to travel to Los Angeles for the Oscars ceremony Sunday.

However, The Associated Press reported that, in a last-minute decision by the Department of Homeland Security, Khatib reportedly will be blocked from entering the United States.

The Associated Press cited an internal Trump administration correspondence that said “derogatory information” had been found on Khatib, who had been scheduled to travel Saturday from Istanbul to Los Angeles on Turkish Airlines.

The term is “a broad category that can include anything from terror connections to passport irregularities,” according to The Associated Press.