The Mahmood family’s ordeal at Gatwick airport in London, where the Disneyland-bound group of 11 UK citizens was pulled out of the boarding line by American officials and had their tickets cancelled, speaks to more than just the apparent institutional prejudices of the American government’s security measures.
Also laid bare are the paradoxes of the fight over Islamophobia here at home. How can we ask Muslim communities the world over – including in the US – to forcefully reject the extremists among them and, more onerously, reveal themselves as the peace-loving people they are when at the same time we fail to treat them this way at our borders? [333 comments]
[TOP RATED COMMENT 394 votes] Has there been any evidence which would indicate that this family was denied entry on the basis of their religion? Perhaps, or far more likely, there was another reason they were refused entry?
[2ND 369] The reason is right in the article ... Anyone who has travelled to Iran, Pakistan, Iraq or Syria since 2011 will be subject to the requirement to apply for a Visa instead of having a Visa Waiver, this was voted in by Congress after the Paris attacks. It says the wife was recently in Pakistan. Nothing to do with being Muslim. There we have our answer, check the law people...
[3RD 299] The Guardians approach to this is a disgrace.
How many Muslims traveled to the US this month from all around the world? Tens of thousands? Did all of the Homeland Security people who let those people enter not get the anti-Muslim memo?
How can you run multiple articles smearing the US, accusing them of racism, when you have ZERO evidence?
You really have just turned into the Daily Mail of the left. [Guardian Cif] Read more
