British Muslim family stopped from boarding flight to US

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

HIGHLIGHTS
• A British Muslim family heading to Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at Gatwick airport.

• Opposition Labour party MP Stella Creasy has written to Cameron urging him to press US authorities on the issue.

• All British citizens fall under the "Visa waiver" programme

A Reuters file photo of Gatwick airport.
LONDON: A British Muslim family heading to Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at Gatwick airport here, prompting a lawmaker to seek Prime Minister David Cameron's intervention into the matter.

Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, who was travelling with his brother and nine of their children, said the US officials gave no explanation for refusing to allow them to board the flight.

"It is because of the attacks on America - they think every Muslim poses a threat," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Opposition Labour party MP Stella Creasy has written to Cameron urging him to press US authorities on the issue.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Cameron will investigate the lawmaker's claim and will "respond in due course".

US department of homeland security officials have so far provided no explanation as to why the country refused to allow the family of 11 to board the plane even though they had been granted travel authorization online ahead of their planned December 15 flight.

Mahmood said that the airline told them that they would not be refunded the $13,340 cost of their flights.

They were also forced to return everything they bought at the airport's duty-free shops before being escorted from the airport.

"I have never been more embarrassed in my life. I work here, I have a business here. But we were alienated," Mahmood told 'The Guardian'.

Creasy said she is concerned about increasing numbers of British Muslims being stopped from entering the US with no apparent reason.

Writing in the newspaper, she said she had "hit a brick wall" with getting an explanation from American authorities and so has asked Cameron to intervene.


She said: "The vacuum created by a refusal to provide any context for these decisions is fuelling resentment and debate.

"Online and offline discussions reverberate with the growing fear that UK Muslims are being 'trumped' - that widespread condemnation of Donald Trump's call for no Muslim to be allowed into America contrasts with what is going on in practice."

All British citizens fall under the "Visa waiver" programme, which authorizes travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa.

 

[VCheng]

UK Muslim family says it was barred from flight to L.A. to visit Disneyland

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement following an inquiry into Mahmood's case. While the agency didn't address his family's situation directly, it said would-be visitors to the U.S. can be prevented from entering the country based on more than 60 grounds of inadmissibility, including health-related issues, criminal backgrounds, immigration violations or security concerns.

"The religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveler are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the U.S.," the CBP statement read."

 

[TruthSeeker]

The trouble with bureaucracies all over the world is that bureaucrats are both powerful and stupid. It is impossible to find enough people with intelligence, common sense, and some sense of balance, to enforce all of the rules that governments create. That is why most people, who can take care of themselves, wish to live in freedom under a government that governs least. The bureaucrat that couldn't recognize a trip to Disneyland for what it was is too typical.

 

[VCheng]

The trouble with bureaucracies all over the world is that bureaucrats are both powerful and stupid. It is impossible to find enough people with intelligence, common sense, and some sense of balance, to enforce all of the rules that governments create. That is why most people, who can take care of themselves, wish to live in freedom under a government that governs least. The bureaucrat that couldn't recognize a trip to Disneyland for what it was is too typical.

This is not a bureaucratic folly, but a tangible step to prevent a potential security risk to USA.

 

[Jaanbaz]

I would be more pissed at not getting my refund. This must put off many Muslim tourists to USA, stop going to USA. They do racial profiling. the idiots also think Sikhs are Muslims.

 

[VCheng]

I would be more pissed at not getting my refund. This must put off many Muslim tourists to USA, stop going to USA. They do racial profiling. the idiots also think Sikhs are Muslims.

Entry into any country is a privilege, not a right. Don't like it? Go elsewhere.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

UK Muslims not allowed on plane - CNN.com

"However, a check by CNN of traveling family members on UK Electoral Roll shows an email address associated with 18-year-old Hamza Mahmoud that links to a suspicious Facebook page.

The page appears to belong to a Birmingham resident with a similar name, whose occupation is listed as Supervisor at Taliban and Leader at al-Qaeda."


I think that may get you booted off a plane.


Keep in mind thousands of other Muslim families get on planes successfully every day. Probably many on that same plane.

 

[war&peace]

This incident refreshes the question (factually it never got archived), is this war on terror or war on Islam?
Why even a British MP is experiencing such an indifference and why the responsible people been taken to the task?

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

This incident refreshes the question (factually it never got archived), is this war on terror or war on Islam?

We can ask the same question to Pakistani security agencies that have long looked the other way as the Saudis have funded extremist Sunni organization attacking Shias in Pakistan. Why blame others when your own government and armed forces commit same crimes too in Waziristan. The US potecting its own citizens which clearly Pakistan Army and ISI have consistently ignored for last 2 decades.

 

[war&peace]

Why are Pakistanis so surprised ? Pakistan Army and ISI support of Talibans and their guests Al Qaeeda's actions started anti-Muslim feeling in Europe and North America. I think the Raheel Sharif and other generals should have also been denied entry in US so that clueless uniformed people in Rawalpindi know the pulse of the people in North America about the Muslims.

Your troll finally came out....where did you read that the family is a Pakistani origin?, the article says a British Muslim family. Furthermore they were granted the permission already. What is the reason for so much self hate?

 

[war&peace]

This is news is one of many that has been reported in the news media. Many Pakistani Canadian families are also turned back from US border and some US Pakistanis returning back from Canada are also grilled at the US border. Ignorance is a bliss !

Were they all terrorists?

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Were they all terrorists?

They have similar names with some suspects as Pakistanis don't have family names. They they grill you if you recently visited Pakistan and/or Saudi Arabia. The two frenemies of United States. This is not a isolated case. I know few Pakistanis and Algerians in Canada who have officially changed their names to Canadian names just avoid discrimination in jobs.

 

[ranjeet]

Article says this family included 2 brothers and their nine children, maybe the official who didn't allowed them to board the plane is a feminist.

 

[VCheng]

This is news has been reported in the news media while hundreds other have not been. Many Pakistani Canadian families are also turned back from the US border and some American Pakistanis returning back from Canada are also grilled at the US border. The wole Pakistani community is tainted by support of Talibans and extremist groups by thePakistan Army and security services. Ignorance is a bliss !

I cross the Canadian border frequently. No problems thus far.

 

[war&peace]

They have similar names with some suspects as Pakistanis don't have family names. They they grill you if you recently visited Pakistan and/or Saudi Arabia. The two frenemies of United States. This is not a isolated case. I know few Pakistanis and Algerians in Canada who have officially changed their names to Canadian names just avoid discrimination in jobs.

wow what a logic.....are you high or on drugs?....do rest the people in the world have unique names.....there is only one of each John, Jack, Trump, Timothy, etc?