Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khateeb barred from attending the Oscars

21-year-old Khaled Khateeb, the Syrian cinematographer who filmed Netflix’s Oscar-nominated documentary The White Helmets, has been denied entry into the US for the Academy Awards.

Khateeb has been blocked from the country after the Department of Homeland Security found “derogatory” information about him, "an official term that can mean anything from terror connections to passport irregularities", Deadline reports.

This is the second time that Khateeb has borne the brunt of Trump's politics.

Earlier, when Trump's proposed travel ban prohibited entry into the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim countries, including Syria, it looked “unlikely” that Khateeb would be able to attend the Oscars in Los Angeles.

The White Helmets producer Joanna Natasegara told Deadline at the time: “I feel very embarrassed by this and you see what kind of affect [sic] this has on people who have already suffered so much…There’s a complete sense of indignity there that is so offensive and so damaging in ways you can’t see.”

When Trump’s ban was overturned, Khateeb announced he would be attending the Oscars.

“It is important that people understand that Syria has people who want the same things that they want: peace, jobs, family and to live without the fear of bombs,” he had said. “This is what I hope the film does.”

The White Helmets is a 40-minute documentary about the titular force The White Helmets, also called the Syrian Civil Defense. The film, which has been nominated for Best Short this year, profiles the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated warriors who have saved more than 60,000 civilian lives in war-torn Syria.