It
appeared that after Muhammad Ali Jr. was detained last month for
almost two hours at a Florida airport for allegedly being Muslim and
for having an “Arabic-sounding name,” he wouldn’t have to go
through something like that ever again.
Apparently not, as
the son of the late iconic boxer claims he was once again detained on
Friday along with his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali. This time at
Reagan Airport outside Washington D.C. after he was invited to speak
at a forum on Thursday to discuss the recent immigration policy set
forth by President Donald Trump.
Ali’s lawyer,
Chris Mancini said his client was trying to board a Jet Blue plane
back to Fort Lauderdale when he was stopped for 20 to 25 minutes by
the Department of Homeland Security. Mancini told the New York Times,
the DHS rejected his ID and continued to ask where he was from until
finally letting him board his flight back home.
“None
of this was happening Wednesday,” Mancini said. “Going to
Washington obviously opened up a can of worms at DHS.”
Mancini told the
New York Daily News that the son of the former heavyweight champion
has “quite obviously now been put on a different status”, hinting
Ali Jr. could be on a watch list at all the airports.
The Transportation
Security released a statement giving their explanation in regards to
the incident.
“Upon
arriving at the airline check-in counter, a call
was made to confirm
Mr. Ali’s identity with TSA officials. When Mr. Ali arrived at the
checkpoint, his large jewelry alarmed the checkpoint scanner,” the
TSA said in the statement. “He received a targeted pat-down in the
area of his jewelry to clear the alarm and was cleared to catch his
flight.”
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