The White House held a reception on Monday to mark the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was invited to the celebration but the mayor, one of the most prominent Muslim elected officials in New Jersey, never made it inside the White House. Khairullah was turned away by the Secret Service, and he believes it was because his name is on a federal terrorism watchlist.
Khairullah said this is just the latest incident he’s had with federal officials — and an example of the hassles that the secret list causes for more than a million people, none of whom are ever told that they’ve been listed or why. To Khairullah the list amounts to racial profiling, and he is now leading renewed calls for changes in how the list is put together and used.
