Muhammad Ali Jr. detained at an airport again

The son of boxing legend Muhammad Ali was detained by Homeland Security Department officials on Friday while traveling back to his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from Washington, D.C., where he had talked with lawmakers about the first time he was detained back in February.

The Ali family’s friend and lawyer Chris Mancini told New York Daily News that officials initially rejected his identification and questioned him on where he was from. He was eventually allowed on the flight after showing his passport.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was apparently on the same flight, and posted a picture of her and Ali Jr., with the caption: “On way home on DOMESTIC FLIGHT Muhammad Ali Jr. detained AGAIN by @DHSgov. Religiously profiling son of ‘The Greatest’ will not make us safe.”

Ali previously had been detained in February while passing through customs at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport upon returning from a trip to Jamaica.

Mancini said Ali Jr. was asked repeatedly: “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?” Ali Jr., who was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and hold a U.S. passport, told them that he is Muslim.

Mancini blamed President Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned Muslims from several high-terror risk countries, and said the Ali family views their customs debacle as being “directly linked” to Trump’s “ban Muslims from the United States.” The ban was put on hold by a federal judge and Trump has since signed off on a revised travel ban order.

During the congressional forum Thursday, which only Democrats attended, Ali Jr. said, “I believe they were religiously and racially profiling me.”

Customs and Border Protection has maintained that it “does not discriminate based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.”