Islamic Shura Council head discusses deportation of family at LAX

A major Islamic group based in Orange County has questioned U. S. customs officials about the recent deportation of an Australian family that was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and prevented from attending a reunion with a seriously ill relative in La Habra.

The head of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, which represents mosques and Muslim organizations, met with customs officials in Los Angeles late Thursday to discuss what happened to Fazle Rabbi, a 38-year-old taxi driver from Sydney who, along with his wife and two sons, was denied entry to the United States in mid-January. Authorities deported them a little more than 24 hours after they arrived.

The family had traveled to visit Rabbi’s 84-year-old father at the urging of Rabbi’s sister, Dr. Nasima Begum of La Habra. Begum said their father has heart disease and had been hospitalized for a day just before Christmas because of a bad fall. She described his health as “very unstable.”

Rabbi says he and his family should have been allowed into the United States because they had valid Australian passports and U.S. visas obtained in Australia. He said that he came only to see his ailing father and that he had no desire to illegally stay in the country.

Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council, said that Carlos Martel, who is responsible for customs operations at LAX, told him there were “inadmissibility issues.” Martel declined to elaborate because federal privacy laws prevent the discussion of specific individuals.

Syed said that Martel, an area port director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, mentioned that “other agencies were involved” in the Rabbi case, but that he could not disclose the names of the agencies. He added that Martel reassured him that no racial, cultural or religious profiling was involved in the decision to detain the family.

Customs officials can deny entry to the United States for a variety of reasons, such as improper travel documents, providing false information to customs officers, criminal records, links to terrorist groups and prior immigration problems.

Rabbi has said that customs agents at LAX appeared to be concerned that he had been denied U.S. travel visas while he and his family lived in Bangladesh. They moved to Australia about four years ago.

Syed said he plans to meet again with Rabbi’s sister to see whether there is a way Rabbi can visit his father, whose illness, according to Begum, prevents him from traveling abroad. The effort, Syed said, may involve working with federal agencies and elected officials.

Kevin W. Weeks, director of field operations for customs in Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement that the Islamic Shura Council meets regularly with customs officials to discuss issues related to Muslims traveling to and from the United States.

“After our most recent meeting,” Weeks said, “we feel that a better understanding of our role in determining admissibility for all people entering the country was gained, as well as our procedures for handling individuals who are denied entry into the country.”

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dan.weikel@latimes.com