Muhammad Ali’s son, Muhammad Ali Jr., was detained and questioned at an airport for the second time in a month on Wednesday as he tried to board a flight from Washington, D.C. to Fort Lauderdale.
Ali had been in Washington to speak with a congressional subcomittee about his experience on Feb. 7 when he and his mother flew into Fort Lauderdale after a trip to Jamaica. It’s a sad bit of irony that Ali would find himself detained again after speaking to Congress about the injustice of being held for having a Muslim name.
Ali Jr.’s attorney, Chris Mancini, told the Associated Press his client was detained for about 20 minutes and questioned by phone.
“None of this was happening Wednesday,” Mancini said. “Going to Washington obviously opened up a can of worms at DHS.”
Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz tweeted out a picture with Ali Jr. stating her outrage to him being profiled yet again on a domestic flight.
On way home on DOMESTIC FLIGHT Muhammad Ali Jr. detained AGAIN by @DHSgov. Religiously profiling son of 'The Greatest' will not make us safe pic.twitter.com/KO3IVnRFax
— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) March 10, 2017
Mancini said after the first incident in February that Ali Jr. had been questioned about having a “Arabic-sounding name” and was asked if he was Muslim. Ali Jr. is among the highest profile individuals who have found themselves detained due to Donald Trump’s travel ban and has started a campaign for religious freedom in his father’s name, per the Associated Press.
