Khizr Khan, the parent of a soldier killed in Iraq who was killed in Iraq, has canceled a speech in Toronto because he has been told that limitations have or will be placed on his travel:
The father of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq has cancelled a speech planned for Toronto on Tuesday, with the event organizer suggesting Khizr Khan was concerned about travelling outside the United States.
In an email to ticket holders on Monday, organizer Bob Ramsay said Khan was “notified that his travel privilege (sic) are being reviewed” Sunday evening.
“This turn of events is not just of deep concern to me, but to all my fellow Americans who cherish our freedom to travel abroad,” Khan said, according to Ramsay’s statement.
“I have not been given any reason as to why.”
It’s not clear what “review” Khan was referring to. While the Trump administration continues to try to implement a travel ban for citizens from six Muslim-majority countries and deport illegal immigrants, neither initiative would apply to Khan, who became a U.S. citizen in 1986.
Actually, US citizens were forbidden from entering the US under Barack Obama, so this is not only something that could be done, it is something that has been done by the FBI in an attempt to coerce testimony or service as an informant.
This was done by putting people on the no-fly list, but given the complete embrace of bigotry and lawlessness recently demonstrated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (it used to be called the INS), Mr. Khan would likely encounter extreme harassment if he were to attempt to re-enter on a land crossing.
I think that the INS is the only federal bureaucracy that is ecstatic about Trump being in the White House, and I’m thinking that it’s 50-50 that this was the brain child of some minor functionary in la migra, rather than someone in the Trump administration.
The past few weeks have indicated that it is an organization that is rotten to the core, so I hope that someone is keeping notes for the next administration.