US embassy interviews a 3-month-old baby for 'terrorism'

The US embassy in London summoned a three-month-old baby for a visa interview after his grandfather unintentionally described him as a ‘terrorist’ on the visa form.

Preparing for an overseas family vacation trip, Paul Kenyon accidentally ticked yes on his grandson Harvey Kenyon-Cairns’ US visa waiver form where it asks “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?”

Unaware of the mistake, the family was surprised when the travel request was denied.



Luckily, the goof-up was resolved with a trip to the embassy in Grosvenor Square, London – where the baby was 'interviewed' by the officials. “Baby Harvey was good as gold for the interview and never cried once. I thought about taking him along in an orange jumpsuit, but thought better of it,” quips Kenyon. “They didn’t appear to have a sense of humour over it at all and couldn’t see the funny side," he added.

“I couldn’t believe that they couldn’t see it was a genuine mistake and that a three-month-old baby would be no harm to anyone,” Kenyon added.

“He’s obviously never engaged in genocide or espionage, but he has sabotaged quite a few nappies in his time, though I didn’t tell them that at the US embassy.”

The 62-year-old’s error did not just make a funny incident for the family to reminisce on – it ended up costing the family an extra £3,000 since his daughter, Faye Kenyon-Cairns and her partner John Cairns had to reschedule their trip.



“It was a very expensive mistake, but I was hoping the US embassy would realise that it was just a simple error without us having to jump through all the hoops,” said Kenyon.

“If you were a terrorist, I suspect you’d not be ticking yes on the Esta form anyway,” he pointed out.

This article originally appeared in The Guardian.