A Muslim mayor was prevented from attending the White House celebration of Eid al-Fitr
The US Secret Service said it prevented a Muslim mayor from Prospect Park, New Jersey, from attending a celebration at the White House on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr hosted by President Joe Biden.
And according to Russia Today, that shortly before his arrival at the White House to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the mayor, Muhammad Khairallah (47 years), said that he had received a call from the White House stating that he was not allowed to enter and would be prevented by the Secret Service.
Khairallah said that the White House official did not explain to him why the Secret Service prevented him from entering, "This decision left me confused, shocked and disappointed."
"It's not that I couldn't go to a party, it's about the list that targeted me because of my identity. I don't think the highest office in the United States should fall for this stereotype," he added.
Khairallah told the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after he was told he would not be allowed to attend the event.
The group called on the Biden administration to stop the FBI from publishing information known as the Terrorist Screening Dataset, which includes hundreds of thousands of individuals.
The group informed Khairallah that a person with his name and date of birth was in a dataset obtained by CAIR lawyers in 2019.
Khairallah became a US citizen in 2000, spent 14 years as a volunteer firefighter in his community, was elected to his first term as mayor of the city in 2001, and was elected to a fifth term last January.
And a spokesman for the US Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, confirmed that Khairallah was not allowed to enter the White House complex, but he refused to explain the reason for that.
"While we regret any inconvenience this may have caused, the Mayor was not permitted to enter the White House complex this evening. Unfortunately, we cannot comment further on the specific precautions and methods used to conduct our security operations at the White House," Guglielmi said in a statement.
It is noteworthy that Khairallah is an outspoken critic of the travel ban imposed by former US President Donald Trump, which limited the entry of citizens of several Muslim-majority countries into the United States.
International News Agency Rudaw24
Rudaw 24 is a reliable news source
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