Muslim family kept off flight

Adults and 9 kids from U.K. had planned to visit Disneyland.

— British Prime Minister LONDON David Cameron will look into claims that U.S. officials prevented a British Muslim family of 11 from flying to Disneyland for a planned holiday.

The issue is sensitive because Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims visiting the U.S. due to concerns about extremist attacks.

Stella Creasy, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said Wednesday that U.S. officials gave no explanation for refusing to allow her constituents to board a flight from Gatwick Airport on Dec. 15, so she wrote Cameron seeking his intervention. She said there is “growing fear” among British Muslims that aspects of Trump’s proposal are coming into practice even though they have been widely condemned.

“Nobody is suggesting that American officials shouldn’t be able to manage who comes into their country,” Creasy said. “But this is happening on U.K. soil, and there is a growing concern that it is the religion of these people that is the issue.”

Mohammed Zahid Mahmood said he and his family — two brothers and their nine children — were told nothing except that they were not allowed to travel to the U.S. despite having previously obtained clearance.

“We were the only family that was of Asian, Muslim, sort of appearance, and it seemed a little bit embarrassing that only we were taken out (of the line to board),” Mahmood told the BBC.

“We were devastated,” Mahmood told ITV in another interview. “We’d planned this trip for two months — the kids were excited — and all of a sudden some person just comes and says, ‘You’re not allowed to board the plane,’ with no explanation.”

Cameron’s office said Wednesday he would investigate the matter. He had earlier characterized Trump’s proposal as “divisive and wrong.”

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said the “religion, faith or spiritual beliefs of an international traveler are not determining factors” when deciding if a person can travel to the United States. The spokesman said people can be denied entry for a variety of reasons including health-related issues, prior criminal convictions, security concerns and miscellaneous other grounds.

A U.S. State Department official told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week that the U.S. has revoked more than 122,000 visas since 2001, including about 9,500 that were pulled due to terrorism concerns.

Michele Thoren Bond, assistant secretary for the agency’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, told the committee that the State Department has “broad and flexible authority to revoke visas” and will use its authority “to protect our borders.”

“Almost every day, we receive requests to review and, if warranted, revoke any outstanding visas for aliens for whom new derogatory information has been discovered since the visa was issued,” she said. “In those circumstances, the department can and does use its authority to revoke the visa immediately, and thus prevent boarding.”

Creasy said that after she publicized the Mahmoods’ case, other British Muslims came forward with similar stories of having been blocked from boarding recent U.S.bound flights — including, she said, a civil servant.

Ajmal Masroor, a London-based imam and broadcaster, said he was turned away when trying to travel to the U.S. for business recently. He said a U.S. Embassy official prevented him from boarding the Dec. 17 flight and told him his business visa had been revoked. He said he had never had any problem traveling on the visa before.

“I asked him why repeatedly and he said, ‘You must have done something wrong,’ without any explanation,” Masroor said.

He said he feared that U.S. officials were singling out Muslims.

“This is absolutely discrimination. It is not acceptable and playing into the hands of the terrorists,” Masroor said.

The Muslim Council of Britain also said the last-minute denial of boarding privileges without explanation is distressing for Muslims.

“There is a perception that such decisions are being made due to the faith or political activism of individuals,” the council said.