‘Because I’m Muslim’: British student details US airport deportation and detention experience

A 20-year-old British Muslim student has alleged that he was profiled because of his faith after being detained and questioned for nearly 24 hours at Orlando International Airport during a planned holiday in the United States. Laith Alani, a law student from Oxford, had travelled to Florida for a week-long trip that was expected to include visits to theme parks and a meeting with a relative in California. He had planned to spend around £2,500, or approximately $3,200, on the trip. Instead, Alani was pulled aside by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shortly after arriving in the country on July 3. He said officials questioned him for nearly nine hours before placing him in a cell for another 14 hours. During the inspection, Alani said authorities searched his electronic devices and social media accounts and questioned him extensively about his family, relatives, neighbours, hobbies and previous international travel. U.S. authorities told The Guardian that “inconsistencies were identified” in his travel history during the inspection and said he ultimately withdrew his application for admission to the country. Alani disputes that explanation, saying officials presented his removal from the United States as a decision that had effectively already been made. The student had previously been denied an ESTA visa waiver after declaring that he had travelled to Iraq, where he has relatives. He was later granted a 10-year, multiple-entry B1/B2 visa allowing him to visit the United States for tourism and family visits. According to Alani, officials focused particularly on a trip he made to Tunisia in July of the previous year, shortly after receiving his U.S. visa. He said officers questioned why he had travelled to Tunisia without notifying the U.S. embassy, although he had not planned the trip when applying for his visa. Correspondence reviewed by The Guardian reportedly showed that a CBP officer determined Alani was inadmissible because he had been unable to overcome a presumption that he intended to immigrate to the United States. After spending almost an entire day in detention, Alani said he was told that he would be removed from the country and was presented with an electronic signature pad. He later received a document carrying his signature that stated he had voluntarily withdrawn his application to enter the United States. Alani said he did not understand the implications of the document when he signed it and would not have signed it had he understood what it meant. He also said his autism and other personal vulnerabilities made the prolonged questioning particularly distressing. Alani has accused the officer of treating him unfairly because he is Muslim and described the experience as feeling like he had been kidnapped. His case has since been raised with the British government by his local Member of Parliament, Anneliese Dodds. The incident has also attracted attention from Muslim and Arab organisations amid broader concerns about the treatment of British Muslim travellers entering the United States. A spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain said it was increasingly hearing accounts of British Muslim travellers being detained, questioned for hours and having their electronic devices searched at U.S. airports. Alani’s experience comes amid wider scrutiny of secondary inspections and extended questioning faced by international travellers at American borders. While U.S. authorities maintain that inconsistencies in his travel history led to the decision, Alani believes his identity and Muslim faith may have contributed to the way he was treated. His planned holiday ultimately ended with detention and removal from the United States, leaving him questioning the circumstances surrounding his treatment at the airport.