German Muslim Denied Entry to U.S., Detained in Las Vegas
"ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec 30, 2006, PRNewswire: The Southern California chapter
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today asked for an
explanation as to why a German Muslim was barred from entering the United
States and is now being detained in Nevada.
According to his family, 62-year-old Majed Shehadeh is being held after
arriving at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport on Thursday. Family
members say Shehadeh was interrogated for a total of more than 12 hours by
officials with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI. He was also
allegedly placed in a cold cell with some 25 other people and a single
toilet, and prevented from taking prescribed heart medication for 20 hours.
Shehadeh, whose wife and three children are U.S. citizens, had planned
to visit his daughter in Bakersfield, Calif., to celebrate her passing of
the California Bar and her wedding anniversary. The family has reportedly
been barred from seeing Shehadeh, and were only able to communicate with
him late Friday morning. ... Shehadeh's wife says she and her husband have
traveled to the United States almost once a year for the past 30 years."