A long-serving Muslim mayor was turned away from a belated Eid al-Fitr celebration hosted at the White House on Monday to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, US media outlets report.
Mohamed Khairullah, who has been Mayor of Prospect Park in New Jersey for nearly two decades, said he was on his way to the event when he was called and told that he was not cleared by the Secret Service.
He is a Muslim who was born in Syria and has been the Democratic mayor of the borough of 6,300 for 17 years. He believes he was targeted due to racial profiling.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that at this point, my crime is my race, my religion and my name,” he told CNN on Tuesday.
Mr Khairullah was invited to the White House as part of a group of Muslim-American elected officials across the country
US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi is quoted as confirming Mr Khairullah was not allowed into the White House complex, but did not offer details.
The Mayor said he was yet to be given an explanation from the White House or Secret Service for being turned away from the event attended by Muslim leaders.
“What are we going to do about the targeting of Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, by federal agencies that are basically not telling us why we are being harassed at airports, border crossings and now for me to be denied entry into the People’s House is baffling,” Mr Khairullah told CNN.
He said he had issues with travel after returning to the US from trips abroad.
