Muhammad Ali’s Son Illegally Detained at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Attorney Says

Muhammad Ali’s Son Illegally Detained at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Attorney Says

Friday, February 24, 2017
By Chuck Strouse,
Jerry Iannelli
Muhammad Ali Jr. with his mother, Khalilah.

Muhammad Ali Jr. with his mother, Khalilah.
Courtesy of the Ali family
The Muslim son of America’s most famous boxer says he was stopped at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, questioned twice about his religion, and then held for about two hours this past February 7.

Muhammad Ali Jr., the son of Muhammad Ali, was on his way back from Montego Bay, Jamaica, with his mother and Ali’s first wife, Khalilah, when immigration officers detained him. Khalilah showed officers a picture of herself with her ex-husband, who died last June 3, so she was not detained. Ali Jr. had no such photo.

“This is an outrage,” says Chris Mancini, a former federal prosecutor and friend of the family. “I don’t know what is going on with Mr. Trump’s claim that his ban is not religion-based. We do not discriminate in this country based on religion.”

Ali Jr., age 44, had no criminal record and carries a United States passport, Mancini says. He recently moved to Deerfield Beach to live with his mother. Last year, Ali Jr. received a large share of his father’s multimillion-dollar fortune.

Khalilah Ali married the boxer, who was then named Cassius Clay, in 1967 at the age of 17. They divorced ten years later. She had traveled to Jamaica to give a speech about black history.

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