Muhammad Ali‘s son was detained at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and questioned because of his “Arabic-sounding name,” his lawyer told the Courier-Journal.
Back on February 7, Muhammad Ali Jr. and Khalilah Camacho-Ali, his mother and the second wife of the legendary boxer who passed away last year, flew into Fort Lauderdale after an appearance in Jamaica for a Black History Month event. Ali Jr., who was born in Philadelphia, was detained by immigration officials after he was unable to provide a picture of himself with his father — Camacho-Ali was released after she was able to do this.
From there, Ali Jr.’s lawyer said that he was questioned for nearly two hours. He was repeatedly asked “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you a Muslim?” When Ali Jr. said that he was, in fact, a Muslim, “the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born.”
This incident occurred approximately a week and a half before President Donald Trump signed an executive order that banned immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. Additionally, it happened two days before a court unanimously ruled against reinstating the ban in a move that CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin called “a complete and total repudiation of the Trump administration’s legal position.”
Ali Jr. is reportedly considering filing a federal lawsuit, with his lawyer arguing that this is an example of “classic customs profiling.” Additionally, Ali’s lawyer said that the family believes this incident “is directly linked to Mr. Trump’s efforts to ban Muslims from the United States.”
(Via Courier-Journal)
