Son Of The Legend Muhammad Ali (Muhammad Ali Jr) And Ex- Wife Khalilah Camacho-Ali Were Detained At A Florida Airport

Son Of The Legend Muhammad Ali (Muhammad Ali Jr)
And Ex- Wife Khalilah Camacho-Ali Were Detained At A Florida Airport 

BHR Hollywood Reports........The son and ex-wife of sports legend Muhammad Ali are speaking out after they were detained at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport because of their religious beliefs.

Muhammad Ali Jr. and his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali said they were stopped at FLL earlier this month because they are Muslim. “I wasn’t thinking about a ban. I wasn’t thinking about anything. I just knew that this was a problem,” Camacho-Ali said.

“Immigration came up to me and pulled me aside and asked me my name first and I said ‘Muhammad Ali.’ And he said, ‘What religion are you?’ And I said, ‘Muslim.’ He said, ‘Come with me.’

Mr. Muhammad And Ms. Kahalilah 

“At first, you know, we were traveling together,” Khalilah said. “And when I saw they were having a problem with him, I said, ‘That’s my son over there. We’re traveling together.’

“They rolled him away. I said, ‘Where’s he going?’ They said, ‘He’ll meet you on the other side.’”

Muhammad continued, “So he took me to another room - it’s like he didn’t believe me or whatever, but he asked me again, ‘What is your name and what is your religion?’ And again I answered.

He was questioned for about an hour and 45 minutes.

“They asked me about my birthday. They asked me where was I traveling to, what route I come from. And I was like, ‘What difference does it make? I’m a U.S. citizen. You see my ID, you see my passport. I offered my social security card, so why are you stopping me?’”

Ex- Wife Khalilah Camacho-Ali

In the end, when he was released, Ali said he was given neither an explanation for why he was stopped, nor an apology.

Khalilah said they had had no problems coming from Jamaica.

“I was scared!” she said.

Muhammad, who was born in Philadelphia, said he had never been questioned or stopped before. Nor does he have a criminal record.

“I was wondering why he was asking about my religion,” he said. “I thought, what does that matter?”

In a statement, Customs and Border Protection told CBS News that, while it’s against their privacy policy to comment specifically about the Ali’s case, “CBP does not discriminate based on religion, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.”

Anthony Mason asked, “What’s your response to that?”

 Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

“Then why would you ask me?” Ali replied. “I wouldn’t ask you, ‘What religion are you? Christian?’ Like there’s a problem with it? I know Islam and Christianity is peace.”

When asked about how he feels from his experience, Muhammad said, “I don’t know. That situation made me feel like I was at my father’s funeral -- I didn’t know what to think.”

Camacho-Ali said that this kind of profiling is frustrating because Ali Sr. left a legacy as an international ambassador of Islam. “He would tell everybody, ‘You gotta respect me, you respect the Christians, you respect the Jews, why not Muslims?’ You got to respect us all,” she said.

After what happened at FLL, the family is now looking into a suit against the Department of Homeland Security, according to Mancini.

“They believe people should respect one another,” Mancini said. “They will fight for respect.”

Camacho-Ali was asked how her ex-husband would react, she said, “Muhammad would really go off. He would say, ‘Look, I’m a Muslim, I’m [going to] be a Muslim. I don’t care what nobody says.'”

A representative for U.S. Customs and Border Protection would not talk in detail about this incident but did say that the agency does not discriminate based on religion.