Australian Politician Subjected To Interrogation At LAX

Washington, 7 Rabi’ul Akhir 1437/17 January 2016 (MINA) – A Pakistani-born member of the New South Wales parliament has been detained at a US airport after immigration officials questioned how she was granted an Australian passport and where she was originally from.

Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens member of the NSW legislative council, was detained by LAX officials for more than an hour with her husband after trying to clear immigration at the aiport, World Bulletin quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

She had presented her passport and been fingerprinted by officials at the airport before being asked “how we got Australian passports, “We said it was because we lived there and they asked where we were originally from,” Faruqi said. “When we said Pakistan we were told that someone would be escorting us to the interview room.”

The MP, who was elected in 2013, said she was asked in a really aggressive manner if she could present identification other than her Australian passport.

She was taken with her husband to an interview room in which the pair were separated and interrogated in front of about 10 others waiting in the room.

“The interview was along the same lines, why are you here, do you have a Pakistani passport, have you been to Pakistan, what do you do there,” she said.

Faruqi has resided in Australia for 24 years and has been a citizen for 22.

“To be asked how I got an Australian passport is ridiculous on one level and heart-wrenching at another,” she said. “You don’t expect it, you know you haven’t done anything. It’s a little bit embarrassing.”

The husband and wife were eventually allowed to proceed with their trip to the US, where Faruqi, the Greens spokeswoman on drugs and harm minimisation, will meet drug law reform experts and campaigners in California and Oregon. (T/P006/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)