scrubbedexpat099

Calls for David Cameron to step in after US bars British Muslim family from trip | Politics | The Guardian

sir_eccles

One would think they should at least get a refund.

Pollyana

I know! £9000 and the airline is refusing to refund it.
I feel so sorry for the poor kids, especially as no-one can even give them a reason why they can't go, except that 'America doesn't want them to'. Easy to see why some youngsters grow up with an irrational hatred of the place.

Lion in Winter

When did the US Departmenr of Homeland security get a foothold in Gatwick, anyway, telling British passengers what they can and can't do on UK soil? I know they're in Dublin but I hadn't realised they were in the UK as well.

username.exe

Racial/faith based profiling... totally deplorable.

Strange how the rules go out the window and it becomes acceptable behaviour when you're doing it outside of the homeland.

scrubbedexpat099

What struck me was 2 brothers and 9 children but no wives?

As usual I have a feeling there is a lot more to this than a trip to Disney.

Steve_

Presumably this is because of the changes in how the VWP work and DHS hasn't bothered to tell anyone. CBP have had people at Gatwick and Heathrow for years btw.

I assume these people were dual citizens with one of the countries on the nasty list.

scrubbedexpat099

Last time I went through Heathrow, a few years ago you had a second stage check at the gate area.

Steve_

Last time I went through Heathrow, I had a 600ml bottle of Diet Pepsi in my carry-on that I'd totally forgotten about and no-one at the security checkpoint noticed.

mikelincs

We don't really know the full story, and probably never will, BUT 2 male adults travelling with 9 children and no women present will raise flags straight away, there are many possibilities, did they have written permission from the mothers of these children? were the 9 children all theirs? and, of course the US has the right to turn away ANY person from entering the US unless they are US citizens, and they do not have to give reasons. According to the BBC this morning the UK border people turned away some 100,000 people from entering the UK this year.
David Cameron should keep his nose out of this, it's not going to go well for him. The only issue I have is the refusal of the airline to refund the flight costs, and only the flight costs.

robin1234

The article in the Guardian is a bit garbled and hard to understand on this point, but it seems to be saying that the airline won't give them a refund because the family were already checked in and in the departure lounge. So if they'd been refused when attempting to check in, they would have got a refund?

One way of looking at the whole question, is the the family were far less traumatized and inconvenienced by being turned away at Heathrow, than if they'd been refused entry when they reached the USA. Especially with young children.

scrubbedexpat099

To be fair most articles in the Guardian are a bit garbled and despite it being a major story for them seems just a rehash of what has been made available elsewhere.

Pollyana

Mothers dead? Sick? Don't want to go? None of those would cause an issue in a non-muslim household....
Mothers just going by their culture and allowing the father sto go ahead and have the holiday while mothers stay at home?

Who knows? Not a reason for refusal though, surely.

SultanOfSwing

Very, very recently I think. When we were there last year they didn't have it but I think I remember reading something about it being implemented in the first half of this year. Been in Dublin and (at least) Toronto for years, of course.

As Robin pointed out though, at least the one good thing is that they were refused entry in London rather than in Florida and don't have to sit waiting for a flight home.

Still, in order to book the tickets they should have had a clean ESTA, but then were refused entry because the US changed the goalposts at the last minute? Seems more than a bit shitty to me.

Of course you do, tinfoil boy. Go lock yourself in your bedroom and stroke your guns until the bad men leave you alone. Poor thing.

scrubbedexpat099

David Cameron to look into Muslim family banned from Disneyland in California | Daily Mail Online

Shame when the Mail seems to be a better source than the Guardian, I know the Mail is derided here but when I have sought addition information on stories like this it is often there.

The only other nugget I have found is that the Brothers are Pakistani's, brought to the UK as children, and that one seems to have been arrested in Israel.

They obviously failed the passenger check list, we may find out why, we may not. Obviously impacts many.

Pretty sure ESTA and your Passport do not show religion so that is no doubt a red herring.