Absence of clarification of barring a family from boarding US-bound flight points towards religious discrimination
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: As any other country in the world, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency has been backed up by law to deny the issuance of visas or admission into the country even if a visa has been granted. US law lists more than 60 possible reasons to trigger such a ban — health, security, public charges, prior criminal conviction, labour certification, illegal entrant and immigration violations, and manipulation of documents are some of these reasons. US immigration law, however, does not permit inadmissibility due to a traveller’s religion, faith or spiritual beliefs.
Mohammed Tariq and his family of 11 were recently barred from boarding a US-bound flight at London’s Gatwick airport. The family’s destination was Disneyland in California and they had applied for visa waivers via the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) website. These waivers were granted and the family was able to check in for the flight and pass through the UK security counter. Minutes before boarding the plane, a US border control officer at Gatwick Airport informed the family that their right to travel to the US had been cancelled on orders from Washington. While US authorities have all the right to protect their borders by denying entry to suspicious characters, at the same time, Mohammed’s family has the right to know why they were declared persona non grata. So far, authorities in the US have preferred not to give any reason, citing the protection of the family’s privacy. In the absence of a valid reason, all fingers will point towards Mohammed’s religious affiliations. Many people will connect this incident with frequent outbursts of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump purporting a ban on Muslims from entering the US. My question is that by refusing to give any reasons for Mohammed’s inadmissibility, the DHS is not winning the hearts and minds of the general public, but opening itself to criticism of waging religious discrimination. In fact, it’s acting to make things look even more suspicious leading to allegations of religion-based profiling of travellers. If the ban has something to do with the family’s alleged objectionable entries on Facebook, then why not clarify the same to alert those who think they are invisible behind the dark wall of social media? Let things be made transparent and fair.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2016.
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