ESTA Visa Suspended "Not Authorized To Travel" Question

I'm a US Citizen who resides in NY. Last year we had a relative come and visit us from Europe for a couple of months, he was admitted through his ESTA visa as he was many times before. This time, however, he wasn't able to go back to his country before the 90 days due to the COVID travel ban. He went to the JFK Airport for a Satisfactory Departure extension due to the situation, and according to the Officer, there wasn't any extension due to Covid. So he overstayed and went back to his country once the flights resumed.

Now a year after this happened, he was coming back to NY for vacation and was notified at the airport that his ESTA Visa got suspended and got the status of "Not Authorized". There isn't any transparency as to why the visa got suspended. We can only think it is due to him overstaying last year.

So the question is, does he has any options to appeal this decision? We think that if he's able to explain the whole situation he could get some sort of forgiveness especially due to the whole craziness from last year with Covid.

submitted by /u/luijo07
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/o26qmf/esta_visa_suspended_not_authorized_to_travel/

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