According to Xinhuanet, The family of 11 members was about to fly to Los Angeles for a holiday trip to Disneyland on Dec. 15, but they were approached by U.S. Homeland Security officials in the departure lounge at London Gatwick Airport and barred from boarding their flight, British Sky News reported.
The father, Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, said they felt "humiliated and alienated." The family had paid 9,000 pounds (about 13,382 U.S. dollars) for the flights.
Officials told him and his family that their authorization to travel on the flight had been cancelled without further explanation.
Mahmood, who was traveling with his brother and nine of their children, said all of the family members had authorization to travel under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, but officials told them they were not allowed to board the plane.
"As far as we're concerned we haven't done anything wrong. We've not had a problem with the police. We're normal, law-abiding citizens. We work here and pay our taxes and we're just like normal people," he said.
"We actually felt humiliated, alienated, because the way we were dealt with was just out of the ordinary. Everyone's eyes were on us, it was embarrassing," he added.
Disney characters greet tourists at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, April 11, 2013. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)
Mahmood told the Guardian newspaper that he believed the reason for the last-minute cancellation was "because of the attacks on America -- they think every Muslim poses a threat."
Stella Creasy, a member of Parliament (MP) who represents Walthamstow, where Mahmood lives, has urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to step in to challenge the U.S. decision.
"Now we should do more than shrug our shoulders at secretive American security policies that leave our constituents in such limbo," she wrote in an article for the Guardian.
"If the embassy won't answer to the family's MP, it should answer to their prime minister and he to us about what he is doing to ensure that no British citizen is being discriminated against for their faith on our shores," she said.
She also noted that a growing number of British Muslim citizens say they have been similarly treated. She warned that the vacuum created by the U.S. refusal to provide any context for these decisions was "fueling resentment and debate."
"Indeed, if the U.S. thinks it has good grounds for stopping people going there, we cannot be contented that the UK does not take any action to follow this up here," she said.
A Downing Street spokesman said Cameron "would consider the issues raised by Creasy and respond in due course."
Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Home Affairs select committee of the Parliament, said there seemed to be a growing pattern of British citizens being refused entry to the U.S., according to a BBC report.
"If you imagine if an American citizen was told by a British official they couldn't board a plane, there would be complete uproar in the United States of America," he said.
- Rexinews
- Xinhuanet
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