Muslim New Jersey mayor denied entry to White House calls for Biden end to ‘discriminatory’ practices

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. — The longest-serving Muslim Mayor in New Jersey on Tuesday called on the Biden administration to stop the use of “discriminatory” security practices that he said target Muslim Americans after he was abruptly blocked from joining a White House celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah, a Democrat who has served as mayor of that North Jersey borough the past 17 years, said he was within minutes of entering the White House for a celebration of Eid al-Fitr on Monday when he was told he was not cleared by the Secret Service to attend the event. A specific reason was not given, he said.

Khairullah — who said he faced racial profiling in the past — said that the scenario was due to his name allegedly being on a federal government “watch list.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations New Jersey chapter provided reporters with leaked records they said proved Khairullah was on such a list, which they described as arbitrary and discriminatory.