Amal Clooney has been married to George Clooney, an American citizen, for eleven years. In all that time, she apparently never sought American citizenship. She has retained her British citizenship, and the Clooneys live in their homes around the world – George’s bachelor pad in LA, a place in NYC (where they are now, as George works on Broadway), a country home in England, a home in Como, Italy. Oh, and they bought a home in France too. Well, there are reports circulating that Amal might soon be banned from entering the US or working at the United Nations.
Several top British lawyers, including Amal Clooney, have reportedly been warned about receiving sanctions from President Donald Trump that could affect their ability to enter the United States.
The Financial Times reported last week that the U.K. Foreign Office has cautioned several high-level barristers about the Trump administration leveling sanctions due to the legal advice they provided to the International Criminal Court in a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In February, Trump issued Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” which named British lawyer and ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in its annex — the first barrister to face U.S. sanctions for advising in this case.
If sanctions against more U.K. lawyers are, in fact, handed down, Amal, 47 — who holds British citizenship — might be prevented from entering the U.S., where she owns a property with husband George Clooney.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1978, Amal and her family emigrated to the United Kingdom two years later to escape the Lebanese Civil War. She was raised in Buckinghamshire before studying at Oxford and NYU. She is qualified to practice law in the United States — after being admitted to the New York bar in 2002 — as well as England and Wales.
She and Clooney married in September 2014, and share 7-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander. PEOPLE has reached out to the U.K. Foreign Office, as well as representatives for Amal and her legal chambers, for more information about possible sanctions. A rep for George declined to comment on the Financial Times’ report.
Last year, there were reports that one of the big reasons why George Clooney did his “civic duty” by writing that horrid NY Times column about Joe Biden was because Biden refused to take his calls regarding Amal’s work for the ICC. As in, the Biden administration criticized the ICC, specifically regarding the case Amal had advised on, and George got mad and tried to complain to President Biden. After that there was a series of unfortunate events leading to Donald Trump’s reelection, and Amal Clooney’s potential ban from the United States. But Biden’s age, amirite? Granted, the Clooneys will be fine no matter what. Their money insulates them and Amal will obviously still be able to enjoy the Clooney properties in England, France and Italy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
