Customs and Border Patrol allegedly detained yet another American citizen arriving in the U.S., this time a retired law enforcement head with 25 years of experience, because of his Arabic name. Former North Carolina Police Chief Hassan Aden says he was held for nearly two hours at John F. Kennedy, writing in a Facebook post that “if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone with attributes that can be ‘profiled.’ No one is safe from this type of unlawful government intrusion.” And that, apparently, includes former police chiefs who have contracted with the Department of Justice. Feeling safer yet, America?
Aden claimed that more than 25 other “foreign nationals” were “brought in and quickly released,” while he remained detained. The reason for his detention, officers said, was because his name was being used as an alias by an individual on a watch list. Aden claims that an officer said he was not actually being “detained,” but writes that he was “in a room with no access to my mobile phone to communicate with my wife and family about what was happening, my movements were restricted to a chair and they had my passport.” [...]
In response to a request for comment, a CBP spokesperson said “due to the Privacy Act, we cannot comment on specific cases, but all travelers arriving to the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.” The statement also said that “less travelers underwent secondary processing in February 2017 than in February 2016” and that “travelers may be inconvenienced as we work through the arrival process to ensure those entering the country are doing so legitimately and lawfully.”
In his Facebook status, Aden — whose mother is Italian and father Somali — also pointed out that he has taken many trips abroad, and was always allowed back into the US without incident. That is, until the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Despite the fact that both of Trump’s Muslim bans have been slapped down in court, his government-sanctioned xenophobia has unshackled immigration agents at airports and in the streets. Earlier this month, Philadelphia-born Muhammad Ali Jr., son of the late boxing legend, was detained for a second time in Washington, D.C., after testifying about his initial detainment in Florida a month prior. He was also detained for his Arabic name. It’s no wonder why so many are purposefully avoiding any visits to the U.S. for as long as Donald Trump is around.
The former police chief says in his Facebook post that he now feels “unsure” about his adoptive country of more than 40 years. “High levels of hate and injustice have been felt in vulnerable communities for decades,” he continued, “it is now hitting the rest of America.” But I guess we’re still supposed to believe the Grifter-in-Chief’s claim that this is “a new era for law enforcement after Obama”:
“This experience has left me feeling vulnerable and unsure of the future of a country that was once great and that I proudly called my own. This experience makes me question if this is indeed home. My freedoms were restricted, and I cannot be sure it won’t happen again, and that it won’t happen to my family, my children, the next time we travel abroad. This country now feels cold, unwelcoming, and in the beginning stages of a country that is isolating itself from the rest of the world - and its own people - in an unprecedented fashion.”
This is what so many people of color, immigrants, Muslims, and others had feared from a Trump presidency—racial profiling on steroids.