A five-year-old boy was detained at Washington Dulles International Airport on Saturday because he may have been ‘a threat to America’.
The kid was handcuffed and held in custody for five hours because he was “identified as a possible threat.”
The boy’s mother, who is Iranian, was waiting for him at the airport as he arrived with another family from Iran. He was one of more than 100 people detained for hours at airports across the country after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an order to ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, reported The Independent.
The boy was later identified by Senator Chris Van Hollen as a US citizen who lives in Maryland. Hollen called it “outrageous” that the boy had been held for so long adding that he was detained despite giving the authorities advance notice of his arrival.
Defending the airport authorities’ behavior, Donald Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, ‘To assume that just because of someone’s age and gender that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong.’
The incident caused outrage on Twitter with people criticising Trump’s outrageous policies
You are utter trash, @realdonaldtrump. Boy, 5, handcuffed at US border for being ‘security threat’ to USA https://t.co/Tf3tkstNvO
— Eleanor Howlett (@TheSassyRed) February 1, 2017
Donald’s White House says 5-year-old boy was ‘handcuffed’ because he was a ‘security threat’ https://t.co/uX3pbBnN0j US sound like israel
— Weiss (@w_nicht) February 1, 2017
US’s latest “terrorist threat” is a 5-year-old according to some idiots.
Boy, 5, handcuffed at US border https://t.co/f8Dtg9QHbu— JenniferAuthor (@DieHardForGirls) February 1, 2017
Please say this isn’t true. God help us if so.Any monster who did this should pay for the boy’s trauma therapy. And be handcuffed to Trump. https://t.co/HW20jQLNCh
— Becky Johnson (@beckyajohnson) February 1, 2017
just think about the fact that, while most of us remember five as a wonderful carefree age, this boy will remember being handcuffed. 5. FIVE https://t.co/9kWZ74ZIeL
— keisha (@keishaelainexo) February 2, 2017