A former Alexandria deputy police chief says he was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and held for 90 minutes because of his name.
Hassan Aden, a US citizen for 42 years, was returning from a weekend in Paris for his mother’s 80th birthday when he was held by the US Customs and Border Protection officials for 90 minutes.
Aden, who spent 26 years in service of the police department in Alexandria, Virginia said he was escorted to a makeshift office, prohibited from using his cellphone and given little information about the reason for the holdup.
He described the details of his detention on a Facebook post:
The 52-year-old cop said he told an officer that he was a retired police chief and a career law enforcement officer, but the man said that he had “no control” over the situation and that it “didn’t matter” what his job was. Another officer explained that someone on a “watch list” had been using Aden’s name as an alias, and his information was being cross-checked with another agency, Aden said.
“On all of my prior trips, I was greeted by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers with a warm smile and the usual, “Welcome home sir”. Not this time. I approached CBP Officer Chow who didn’t say anything when I handed him my passport and looked at me with a gruff expression and simply stated, “are you traveling alone?”, I knew this was a sign of trouble, I answered “yes”, he then said, “Let’s take a walk”.
The former cop, a non-Muslim according to The Washington Post, said that polices like the travel ban push a narrative that “could lead to attitudes that would make authorities suspicious of his name.”
The Washington Post reported that in an email on Sunday, a spokesperson for CBP did not deliberate of the specifics of the case due to the federal Privacy Act but added that “all travelers arriving to the US are subject to CBP investigation.”
“At times, travelers may be inconvenienced as we work through the arrival process to ensure those entering the country are doing so legitimately and lawfully,” she said while stressing that the agency’s policy for screening was above race and ethnicity “in all but the most exceptional circumstance”.
“We strive to process arriving travelers as efficiently and securely as possible while ensuring compliance with laws and regulations governing the international arrival process,” wrote the Post quoting the spokesperson.
