A general view of the front pages of British national newspapers on Dec. 9. The British press reacted to comments by Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump that the Metropolitan Police are scared to patrol certain Muslim areas of London.(Photo: Getty Images)
A British Muslim family was prevented by U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>security officials from boarding a plane from London to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Los Angeles, where they were planning to visit Disneyland, British media reported Wednesday.
The 11 family members — two adults, nine children<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— were authorized to travel to the U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ahead of their flight<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to Calif. on Dec. 15, but were not allowed to get on the plane by U.S. officials at London's Gatwick airport,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Guardian reported. It identified one family member<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as Mohammad Tariq Mahmood.
Mahmood, a gym owner who was born in Pakistan,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told Metro UK that he was approached by a British border control agent just moments before boarding. The agent said he had gotten a call from U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., barring Mahmood from boarding the flights.
"He wouldn't tell me anything more," Mahmood told Metro UK. "I felt humiliated and my kids were tearful they were so upset. I'd never experienced anything like that."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement following an inquiry into Mahmood's case. While the agency didn't address his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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.
The incident comes a few weeks after Republican presidential frontrunner<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Donald Trump called for Muslims to be banned temporarily from entering the United States, a comment prompted by the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>San Bernardino, Calif., shootings by two radicalized Muslims<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that left 14 people dead.
Trump's proposed ban<span style="color: Red;">*</span>drew fierce criticism in Britain, including<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from Prime Minister David Cameron, who called Trump's remarks "stupid, divisive and wrong."
The family's case has been taken up by their local politician, Stella Creasy. She subsequently wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"instead of heading to Universal Studios for two weeks of fun, (family members) were told to go home and unpack."
"This is more than a sad consumer affairs story about missed gate numbers or paperwork problems.," the opposition Labour Party politician wrote. "The official who stopped them was from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and in the ensuing furor,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>other local residents have come forward to say that they, too, have been summarily refused entry to America."
Creasy said that she has asked Cameron to look into the matter.
Last week, another British Muslim traveler, Ajmal Masroor, was turned away at the gate without explanation as he tried to board a flight to New York.
Masroor, an imam, detailed the experience in a Facebook post.<span style="color: Red;">*</span><span style="color: Red;">*</span>"(The U.S.) has the right to issue and revoke visa<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>I fully understand that,” he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>wrote. “However not forwarding any reasons infuriates ordinary people. It does not win the hearts and minds of people, it turns them off. I am amazed how irrational these processes are but does USA care about what you and I think? I don’t think so!”
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