Greens NSW MP Mehreen Faruqi interrogated at LAX due to 'racial profiling'
NSW Greens MP, Mehreen Faruqi has criticised Los Angeles International Airport after she was interrogated for over an hour based on ‘racial profiling’.
Dr Faruqi, who was born in Pakistan but has lived in Australia for 24 years, told Yahoo7 the incident was “quite distressing and horrible”.
She arrived at LAX on Thursday with her husband to begin a drug law reform fact-finding trip in the US.
After presenting their passports and being fingerprinted, the couple was asked how they ‘got’ their Australian passports.
After fingerprinting etc, we were asked how we 'got' Aussie passports & marched off to the interview room for grilling. Welcome to America.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) January 14, 2016
They said it was because they lived in Australia and were then asked where they were originally from.
When they couple said Pakistan, they were escorted to an interview room, separated and interrogated.
"It was quite distressing and horrible to be put through an interrogation and questioned about your background,” she said in a statement.
“I've been an Australian citizen for over two decades."
"You feel really vulnerable and disempowered. But the worst thing is that these intimidating techniques are used on people every day because of their background and where they are from,” she said.
Dr Faruqi posted about her experience on social media, as did the Greens NSW.
The posts were met with mixed reaction, with some users defending the US Customs' process.
“They don't care if they offend anyone. They are protecting there [sic] borders and taking a stand,” Cozza Matthews commented on the Greens post.
Stuart Khan, an associate professor in environmental engineering at the University of New South Wales responded to Dr Faruqi’s tweet saying he too had been subject to interrogation at LAX.
Yep LAX @stukhan https://t.co/6X7PhRW00P
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) January 14, 2016
"Being asked how 'we got' Australian passports and then about my Pakistani history clearly points towards racial profiling," Dr Faruqi told ABC News.
Dr Faruqi joined the Greens Party in 2004 and was elected to the NSW parliament in 2013. She is the Party's spokeswoman on drugs and harm minimisation
"Despite what happened, I'm looking forward to getting on with my trip and meeting with experts, advocates and campaigners in the drug law reform sphere," she said.
Yahoo7 has contacted LAX for a response.
