French historian detained and nearly deported at IAH

Henry Rousso, a prominent French and Holocaust historian, was detained for hours at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Wednesday, Rousso said.

He was nearly deported, he said on Twitter. Rousso was legally traveling to the United States as a French citizen.

France is not one of the countries recently targeted by President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban.

"I have been detained 10 hours at Houston [International] Airport about to be deported," he wrote.

"The officer who arrested me was 'inexperienced.'"

Rousso was traveling to Texas A&M to participate in a symposium, featuring the chancellor of the Texas A&M system and others on a number of topics.

He was released after Michael Young, Texas A&M President, called the director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic Fatma Marouf, according to reporting by Bryan newspaper The Eagle.

His lecture was to be on "Writing on the Dark Side of the Recent Past."

"In an era where opinions, "post-truth," and so-called democratization of knowledge are predominant, they should foster a reliable conception of how to write about recent issues," his panel description reads.

A call for comment from customs officials was not immediately returned.