Muhammad Ali Jr., the son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, said they were detained at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Friday.
Muhammad Ali Jr. and mother reportedly detained at airport for 2nd time after lobbying to end racial profiling
This is the second time in the span of a month that Ali and his mother were questioned at an airport.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
He and his mother traveled to Washington, D.C., lobbying to end racial profiling. They were trying to board a flight back to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
According to Chris Mancini, Ali’s lawyer, Ali was attempting to board a Jet Blue flight, but Department of Homeland Security officials detained him for about 20 to 25 minutes.
Mancini told the New York Daily News that the officials rejected Ali’s identification card, which he reportedly used to fly to Washington, and kept asking him where he was from. They then allowed him to board the flight after he showed his U.S. passport.
Mancini then told the Daily News “quite obviously” Ali has “now been put on a different status.”
The lawyer told the Associated Press “none of this was happening Wednesday,” referring to the 44-year-old Ali’s trip to Washington. Mancini also said, “Going to Washington obviously opened up a can of worms at DHS.”
The Transportation Security Administration issued a statement Friday:
“Upon arriving at the airline check-in counter, a call was made to confirm Mr. Ali’s identity with TSA officials. When Mr. Ali arrived at the checkpoint, his large jewelry alarmed the checkpoint scanner. He received a targeted pat-down in the area of his jewelry to clear the alarm and was cleared to catch his flight.”
Mancini told The New York Times his client wasn’t complaining about the treatment at the checkpoint, but being questioned at check-in over his identity.
Ali and his mother were in Washington to speak at a forum that was put together by Democrats to discuss President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
According to USA Today, Camacho-Ali said this to lawmakers on Thursday: “Somebody needs to turn this ‘humanity’ switch on because we’re not going to go back to Robert E. Lee.” She was referring to the Confederate Civil War general.
Last month, Ali and Camacho-Ali were detained in a Florida airport allegedly for their “Arabic-sounding names.”
“I believe they were religiously and racially profiling me,” Ali said. “It’s wrong and we’re here to start this law called ERPA, it’s Ending Racial Profiling Act.”
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