The son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali was detained Friday at a U.S. airport for the second time in just over a month, according to his lawyer.
Muhammad Ali Jr. was questioned for about 20 minutes at Ronald Reagan National Airport just outside Washington D.C, lawyer Chris Mancini told the New York Daily News. He said that Ali was detained due to skepticism surrounding his identification. He was eventually released after providing his U.S. passport.
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The incident occurred only a day after Ali spoke to a congressional forum on immigration that House Democrats hosted in Washington, D.C. He was speaking out against President Donald Trump’s travel ban aimed at immigrants from majority Muslim nations. His testimony stemmed from his experience on Feb. 7 at the Fort Lauderdale airport where he was detained because of his religion, Mancini said at the time. Ali is muslim.
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But Mancini also maintains that Ali was targeted this time in retaliation for participating in the forum the day before, and criticizing Trump:
“Going to Washington obviously opened up a can of worms at DHS,” Mancini said. He added that he expected Ali to be stopped frequently moving forward.