A complaint to Mayor Potter’s office by a Muslim family about their treatment by Portland Airport customs and border guards in June reinforces claims that the department of Homeland Security has adopted a McCarthy-ist approach to the prevention of terrorism, where the mere suspicion of posing a security threat, without any proof or the opportunity to defend against those suspicions, is enough to deny Muslims entry to the United States.HOMELAND SECURITY: McCarthy-ist methods?

A German citizen born in Eugene says her Muslim husband was refused entry and sent back to Germany in June by US CBP officials at Portland airport after 24 hours of detention and questioning following their arrival.

Anne Campell-Laaredj says her husband Abdel Kader-Laaredj, an independent businessman, was sent back to Germany on June 14 this year after the couple arrived at Portland airport the day before with their two children. The family were planning to spend a two-and-a-half month vacation with Mrs.Campell-Laaredj’s family in Eugene—returning to the town where was born in 1974 so that her husband could get to know her family, before returning to their home in Germany.

Mrs.Laaredj says the CBP’s alleged reasons for excluding her husband, namely that he could not prove non-immigrant intent, were false, and in fact a pretext for covering up the real reasons for it, namely “that he was “profiled” as some sort of security risk.”

“Presumably, he was included on some “black list” identifying him as a security threat,” wrote Mrs.Laaredj in a complaint to Mayor Tom Potter’s office dated July 17. “Of course, the purported factual basis for this inclusion is unknown, the authors thereof are unnamed, and its veracity is therefore not subject to being proved—or disproved.”

Mr.Laaredj was held for questioning for 24 hours, asked in-depth about his family and business dealings, and refused entry to the US for failing to prove he did not want to immigrate here, despite bringing only 4,000 Euros with him for the two and a half month visit, and evidence backing up the family’s intent to return to Germany, including the family’s German rental agreement, and proof of having pre-paid their son’s kindergarten in Germany through to January 2008.

As basis for Mrs.Laaredj’s contention that the real reason for her husband’s exclusion was his “blacklisting,” Mr.Laaredj also attends a mosque in Feiberg, Germany, that has been raided by the German police. Along with other members of the mosque, he has had his identity documents registered by the police there as a member of the mosque. But Mrs.Laaredj contends that her husband should not have been excluded from the US on the basis of suspicion alone:

“I grew up in an America that openly proclaimed the values of democracy, decency, and fair play. In light of those values, it is fair to ask: Is it right to place a person on a “black list” just because he is an Arab? Because he was born in Algeria and sometimes visits his family there? Because he is a practicing Muslim? Because he attends a mosque that at some point was raided by the police? Because, as a result, his personal data ended up in some police database? Even if he has never committed a crime, has never been arrested, and has never been charged with a crime anywhere in the world?”

“People can be excluded from the US for any number of reasons,” says Mike Milne, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection. “Including if they are known or suspected terrorists on a terrorist watch list.”

Asked whether this means people can be excluded from the US simply on the basis of suspicion, Milne concedes: “combined with other factors, yes.”

Milne could not comment on this specific case, but said 1.1m people apply for entry to the US every day, of which 680,000 are not US citizens. 574 people are excluded on a daily basis. He added that “hundreds of Arabs come across our borders every day.”

The mayor’s office says it has passed Mrs.Laaredj’s complaint—which also contains further allegations about Mr.Laaredj’s poor treatment, including being held in a cell for 24 hours without being able to speak to his family, and paraded through Portland airport in handcuffs—to senator Gordon Smith’s office, where it is understood to be under investigation by a staffer. Calls to Smith’s office, and to Mrs.Laaredj’s attorney, Tilman Hasche at Parker, Bush, and Lane, were not immediately returned yesterday afternoon.

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