Where did you get your name from? Are you Muslim? Muhammad Ali’s son detained by US Customs agents at Florida airport

A son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his mother were detained at a Florida airport upon returning from Jamaica because of their Arabic-sounding names, US media reported late Friday.

A son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his mother were detained at a Florida airport upon returning from Jamaica because of their Arabic-sounding names, US media reported late Friday.

Muhammad Ali Jr, 44, who was born in Philadelphia and has a US passport, was traveling with his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the late sports iconโ€™s second wife, friend and lawyer Chris Mancini told the Louisville Courier-Journal.


Mancini told the newspaper that both were held for questioning on the Fort Lauderdale International Airport on February 7 because of their Arabic-sounding names.

Camacho-Ali however was released after she showed US Customs agents a photo of herself with her ex-husband.

Ali Jr however had no such photo โ€” and according to Mancini was held for nearly two hours and repeatedly asked โ€œWhere did you get your name from?โ€ and โ€œAre you Muslim?โ€

When he said that he โ€” like his father โ€” was a Muslim, the agents asked further probing questions.

โ€œTo the Ali family, itโ€™s crystal clear that this is directly linked to Mr Trumpโ€™s efforts to ban Muslims from the United States,โ€ Mancini told the Courier-Journal, a reference to President Donald Trumpโ€™s late January executive order imposing a 90-day entry ban for citizens of seven Muslim majority countries.

The travel ban has since been halted by a US federal court.

Mancini said that he and the Ali family are trying to find out how many other people were stopped for similar questioning, and are considering a federal lawsuit.

Airport and Customs officials did not answer queries from the newspaper about the case.

Muhammad Ali, one of the iconic 20th century sports heroes, died after a long battle with Parkinsonโ€™s Disease on June 3. He was 74.

Ali was celebrated as much for his three world heavyweight titles as for his civil rights battles outside the ring.

In 1964 Ali dropped his birth name of Cassius Clay when he converted to Islam.

The Louisville, Kentucky native was married four times he was survived by seven daughters and two sons.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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