US Muslim mayor turned away from a White House Eid Al-Fitr celebration complains about being a second class citizen in America
RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Mohamed Khairullah, the Muslim mayor who was abruptly turned away from a White House Eid Al-Fitr celebration four months ago, has given no answer by Biden administration.
“MEM” reported he has demanded answer but offered no explanation.
Khairullah, the long time Mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey, had been invited to the event, and was on his way to the US capital when he received a call telling him that he would no longer be allowed to enter the executive mansion.
He has, since, been joined by prominent New Jersey politicians, including Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez and Representative, Bill Pascrell, in demanding answers.
The Biden administration’s response? Silence.
Khairullah is now the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking an end to the secret FBI watch list that he was placed on in 2019, and which he believes has led to repeated encounters with law enforcement, including the White House disinvitation.
“We have sought answers from the federal government as to why, first of all, I’m on the watch list. And second of all, about the treatment that I’ve received, whether it’s at airports, border crossings or the disinvitation to the White House, and it has fallen on deaf ears,” he told Anadolu in a phone interview.
For us, as Muslims and Arabs, we deserve to be first-class citizens just like everybody else, or citizens in general, because there should be no classes. There should be no profiling based on ethnicity, religion, national background. So we’re seeking justice, essentially
Khairullah is joined by 11 other Muslim-Americans who have never been charged with, much less convicted of, terrorism-related offenses, and have chosen to sue the Biden administration in a district court in Massachusetts in a bid to end the watch list’s use.
“We are seeking a better America for our children and everybody else’s children. So I think, as Americans who are guaranteed the right to the pursuit of happiness, we’re entitled to answers and we’re entitled to due process.”