Authorities said Higazy, who attended elementary and high school in Washington public schools, entered the UnitedStates on August 27 on an Egyptian passport with a student visa.
During his term as chairman of the African Union in 2009, he renewed his calls for a "United States of Africa" that would use a single passport, a single military and a single currency.
On Saturday evening, I called Delta to make sure they would accept my Nexus card for re-entry into the UnitedStates and was told that the requirements showed that a passport was needed.
Every individual flying to the UnitedStates from anywhere in the world who has an itinerary or passport from nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or countries of interest is required to go through enhanced screening.
An official in the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan told CNN that the brothers were Kyrgyz passport holders, and used those passports when applying for green cards in the UnitedStates.