The repercussions of the Trump administration’s attempt to ban Muslims are still being felt, even after his executive order was struck down by federal judges. Muslim citizens are still being profiled at airports and this latest incident involved the son of sports icon Muhammad Ali.
Here are more details from the Courier Journal.
Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini.
Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?”
When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.
Reached for comment via email Friday, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, “Due to the restrictions of the Privacy Act, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot discuss individual travelers; however, all international travelers arriving in the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.”
The line of questioning is indicative of profiling and designed to produce answers that corroborate what officials want to hear, Mancini said. Neither Camacho-Ali nor Ali Jr. have ever been subjected to detainment before, despite extensive global travel experience, he said.
“To the Ali family, it’s crystal clear that this is directly linked to Mr. Trump’s efforts to ban Muslims from the United States,” Mancini said, referring to President Donald Trump’s executive order signed Jan. 27 that barred people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The order also halted the refugee program for 120 days and prohibited Syrian refugees from the U.S. indefinitely.
A U.S. appeals court has since blocked enforcement of the travel order, upholding an earlier decision by a federal judge in Seattle.
The is really sad and shows that no one is immune to this new era of overt profiling and discrimination.