The mayor of a New Jersey town was invited to the White House only to be turned away at the last minute, and he believes that it was due to his name mistakenly being mentioned on a secret government watch list.
About an hour before Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was set to arrive at the White House for the Eid-al-Fitr celebration marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he got a call from the White House stating that he had not been cleared for entry by the Secret Service and could not attend the event where President Joe Biden delivered remarks to hundreds of guests, according to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"I received a call from a gentleman by the name of Evans from the White House social office. We started with small talk, then he informed me that the Secret Service did not clear me to attend the White House Eid celebration," said Khairullah at a Tuesday press conference.
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It was a shock to the Syrian-born mayor of the Passaic County town, who Gov. Phil Murphy described as a dear friend. The pair was seen in a picture from over the weekend at the governor's mansion for a state Eid celebration.
"I hope this was a misunderstanding. I hope this says nothing about our Muslim community," Murphy said, adding that he has reached out to the White House to try and get to the bottom of what happened.
When asked if the state police vets visitors to the governor's mansion, Murphy confirmed they do if they think it necessary — but the governor said he never felt as if he needed to do so with Khairullah.
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The New Jersey chapter of CAIR pointed to a heavily redacted document from the federal government that was leaked several years ago, which has Khairullah's name on it. It may stem from an incident four years ago, in which Khairullah and his young son were detained for three hours at JFK Airport — and his phone confiscated for nearly two weeks — after returning from a family visit to Turkey.
While it was not clear how he got on the supposed watch list, Khairullah went several times to Syria to help family members and others who were made refugees by the Arab Spring revolt in that country. Since that time, the mayor has helped other groups in the U.S. involved in humanitarian aid as well.
Khairullah was elected to a fifth term as the borough's mayor in January.
"Our crimes are our names, our ethnicities and religion. I call on President Biden to correct the injustices from the previous administrations by disbanding this illegal list and correcting ill-advised and racist policies," said Khairullah. "I have no reason to believe I am an unsafe person...Incidents like this make me question our progress."
CAIR is asking for the White House and the Secret Service to apologize for what occurred.
Secret Service said in a statement to NBC New York that it regretted the inconvenience, and added it cannot comment on specific protective methods used to conduct White House security. A source familiar with the federal watch list told NBC New York that the Secret Service does have discretion on whether to allow visitors there, even if they have a red flag. However, there may be classified information on file that gives the agency no other choice under its rules but to block them.
Selaedin Maksut, CAIR-NJ executive director, called the move “wholly unacceptable and insulting.”
"If these such incidents are happening to high-profile and well-respected American-Muslim figures like Mayor Khairullah, this then begs the question: what is happening to Muslims who do not have the access and visibility that the mayor has?” Maksut said.
The group said Khairullah helped the New Jersey Democratic Party compile names of local Muslim leadership to invite to the White House Eid celebration and over the weekend was a guest at event at the New Jersey governor's mansion.
The White House declined to comment.
