(Bergen Record) A New Jersey mayor who was abruptly disinvited from a White House Eid celebration in May was not on the federal terrorism watchlist at the time when the U.S. Secret Service denied his security clearance, his attorneys said in a stunning revelation at a news conference on Monday.
Mohamed Khairullah was placed on the watchlist in 2019, but his name was later removed from the list, said attorneys with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Still, federal agencies have continued to use the list to scrutinize and surveil Khairullah and other Muslims even after their names are cleared, they said.
“The fact that [I was] refused access to the White House indicates that this watchlist has a ripple effect,” Khairullah said Monday at a news conference in Newark.
(Text updated)
