Tweet
A BRITISH social worker who says he was wrongly banned from flying over the US says his life has been devastated by the ban and he still doesn’t know why it was issued.
“The US No Fly list raises serious human rights issues,” said Kweku Asante, who found out he was on the list in August when flight crew prevented him from boarding his holiday flight to Jamaica.
Since then, London-based Asante said his life has gone downhill. He not only lost the money he paid for the holiday but also claims he was gossiped about and forced to leave his job with the Lambeth Council Leaving Care Team on September 24.
“I am now unemployed as I was forced to resign my position as a social worker with Lambeth CYPS [Children and Young People's Services],” he said.
“I was harassed about the article…in The Voice in September. I returned from my vacation to find I was the subject of office-wide discussions and speculation…regarding whether I was some type of risk to national security.”
He added: “I have never been arrested or deported from the US. I have never overstayed or been involved with any banned or extremist groups. I have never been arrested in the UK or been subject to any security restrictions. I'm a hard working, law abiding, registered social worker.”
In a statement, Lambeth Council said: ‘The Council …denies all allegations of harassment or of having discussed personal issues with members of the team.’
It added: ‘Mr Asante was not an employee but was one of our agency staff. He was not dismissed but chose to leave the Council without giving notice of his departure and without giving reasons for leaving.’
But Asante denied the council’s allegations. “I have never walked off a job and I gave those reasons to my manager over the telephone. My agency is also fully aware of what I told them,” he said.
Since August, Asante said he has been searching for answers, writing to Virgin Airlines, with whom he had booked the flight, the US embassy in London, British government ministers, and on November 14, the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Traveler Redress Inquiry Programme (TRIP).
<span style="font-weight: bold">Virgin Airlines told him he was placed on the list because he completed the visa waiver form unnecessarily. </span>
Greg Soule, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA), refused to discuss Asante’s case for “privacy” reasons. But he said passengers end up on the list for serious reasons and there is a chance of possible mistaken identity.
“If individuals believe they have been wrongly identified, they have to go through the TRIP process. That’s where they differentiate between passengers who are misidentified. If they have a name similar to someone on the No Fly list, then TRIP can help differentiate,” Soule said.
The TRIP process could take up to 60 days, Soule said.
doan kill mi Putus 
</div></div></div>
Comment