Despite being invited for an Eid event, Mohamed Khairullah, 47, mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey was barred from entering the White House.(Credit:Tayfun Coşkun/Anadolu Agency)

Harun Nasrullah

US Secret Service and White House officials are accused of “reeking of Islamophobia” after refusing to permit entry to the White House to a Muslim mayor of Prospect Park, New Jersey, for an Eid al-Fitr event with President Joe Biden on May 1.

Mohamed Khairullah, 47, a Democrat mayor for over 17 years, was set to attend the annual Eid al-Fitr event along with nearly 400 prominent Muslims as a guest of the Biden administration and was travelling to the White House when he was notified that he would not be granted entry by the Secret Service, which controls access to the White House complex.

Syria-born Khairullah said that he was “baffled” by the decision and did not know why he had been denied the clearance to enter, but said the incidents “reeks of Islamophobia by certain federal agencies.” Visitors to the complex must undergo a routine background check by having their names submitted to the Secret Service’s Worker and Visitor Entry System, commonly referred to as Waves.

The automated background check is thought to screen out visitors with criminal records and those whose names may be on certain watch lists, though some individuals whose names are flagged may still be permitted to enter alongside a White House staff escort.

The list includes thousands of innocent Americans who may have been flagged because of whom they have encountered, know, or where they have travelled, civil rights advocates say. An overwhelming majority of the names are Arabic or Muslim-sounding, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR’s New Jersey chapter revealed that Khairullah’s name and date of birth were on a leaked copy of the watchlist that they reviewed this year. As with others on the list, the FBI would not confirm he was named or give any reasons or means to challenge his possible inclusion on the list.

People on the watchlist have been barred from travelling or arrested, questioned, and searched at airports. Others have had difficulty applying for immigration benefits, obtaining bail, or obtaining government jobs or contracts, according to CAIR, which has sued on behalf of hundreds of Americans affected by the watchlist.

Khairullah, who was elected to a fifth term as the borough’s mayor in January, believes his name is erroneously on a government watch list, and said he has had problems travelling in the past. He has never been afforded an explanation or an opportunity to remedy the situation.

“I cannot clear my name. Previously, they said ‘“We can’t deny nor confirm you’re on a list’”, and if there is such a list, there is no way of telling us how to clear my name,” he said. “It’s a Catch-22.”

Khairullah was an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which limited entry to the US for citizens from several predominantly Muslim countries.

He has also travelled to Bangladesh and Syria to do humanitarian work with the Syrian American Medical Society and the Watan Foundation.

Selaedin Maksut, Executive Director of the New Jersey chapter of the CAIR, 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 asked.

US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Khairullah was barred from the White House but declined to detail why.

“While we regret any inconvenience this may have caused, the mayor was not allowed to enter the White House complex this evening,” Guglielmi said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we are not able to comment further on the specific protective means and methods used to conduct our security operations at the White House.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to address the controversy, telling reporters it was “under the purview of the Secret Service.”