In February 2017, the only biological son of boxing great Muhammad Ali was detained inexplicably at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It was at a time when airports across the country were dealing with President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration which was later struck down by US federal judges. Ali Jr. was then stopped again by immigration officials, this time at Ronald Reagan National Airport for about 20 minutes, Friday, March 10.
Because of these incidents and other reports from at least 1,300 other Muslim travelers, Ali Jr., has announced that he intends to file a class action suit against the Trump administration, claiming the travel rules discriminate against their religion and is an abuse of human rights. According to media outlet Daily Mail, he said, “They stopped me for no reason. They stopped me for my last name being Ali. A Muslim. My father would do the same thing I did – and they still don’t respect people of color. We are a race of human beings and if I have to fight for eternity then so be it. I will not sleep until our people are respected as an equal opportunity, equal rights for all people that are Americans.”
Attorney Chris Mancini, who was with Ali Jr. when he was stopped the second time, is representing him and other members of the lawsuit. Mancini felt that his client was singled out for making the public aware of the discrimination of US Immigration officials. Mancini stated to the Daily Mail, ‘We are presenting this to the judges as a nationally backed, popular strategy with participants all over the country as they believe their civil rights are at risk. It’s important the press and the people come in on this as that’s the only way to beat Trump.”
If the lawsuit is successful, an injunction will be served on Trump’s travel ban.
