Muslim Mayor Denied From WH Eid Celebrations

New Jersey’s Muslim mayor with the longest tenure expressed shock after the U.S. Secret Service denied him access to the White House event celebrating the end of Ramadan on Monday.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah accused specific federal agencies of displaying Islamophobia by barring him from attending President Biden’s event, despite being invited, on Monday night. In a late-night phone interview with Axios, Khairullah, a Muslim mayor, denied the accusations and expressed his belief that he had faced racial profiling since the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) informed him that a matching name appeared on an FBI terrorism watch list in 2019.

“Khairullah, who was born in Syria and became a U.S. citizen in 2000, is currently serving his fifth term as mayor. “I believed that the travel difficulties I had experienced since 2019 were present two years ago, but today, I found out that some type of government list still included me,” he said. While he was heading to the delayed Eid al-Fitr celebration and being 30 minutes from the White House, Khairullah received a call informing him that the Secret Service could not provide him security clearance and that he should return home,” Khairullah informed Axios.

“To be the Muslim Mayor denied entry in such a way… and two days prior, I was with the governor of my state, in the governor’s mansion,” he said. “It just baffles me.” The mayor noted he hadn’t heard from the White House following the incident. U.S. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, emailed a statement saying that they did not allow the mayor to enter the White House complex that evening but he declined to provide further comments.

Related: Eid Greetings from The Halal Times

Why are Most Muslims Declared Terrorists?

Notably, CAIR claimed in January that the terrorism watch list consists “almost entirely of Arabic and Muslim names.”

Khairullah is speaking out because many other Muslims, who experienced racial profiling, cannot speak out themselves. “I feel that the list is trying us by our names, our identities, and our faith, and we cannot defend ourselves,” he said.

CAIR-N.J. executive director Selaedin Maksut said in a statement Monday evening that the incident “lacks transparency and reeks of government overreach.” Maksut urged the White House to “override the Secret Service,” reinstate the mayor’s invitation, disband the “secret watchlist,” and apologize to the mayor. “If these incidents are happening to high-profile American-Muslim figures like Mayor Khairullah, what is happening to Muslims without the access and visibility that the mayor has,” Maksut added. The White House and FBI representatives did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.