3-month-old ‘terrorist’ baby makes US embassy suspicious enough to interview him
- The family came to know after the baby was refused a visa
- The interrogation cost the family a trip longer than the flight to their destination
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A 3-month-old baby travelling with his grandfather was called for in for interrogation to the US embassy in London because the visa travel form filled had a box ticked, which read “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?”
Paul Kenyon, the grandfather, filled out the form for his grandson in preparation for their family trip to Orlando, Florida when he committed the goof-up. The family came to know after the baby was refused a visa. “I couldn’t believe that they couldn’t see it was a genuine mistake and that a three-month-old baby would be no harm to anyone,” Kenyon was quoted as saying.
The error cost the family a round trip from Cheshire to London to the US embassy and back took about 10 hours, longer than the flight to Florida. The baby was brought here for questioning.
Grandfather Kenyon thought it would be fun to let his little son play the part and thought of even dressing him in the US prison garb of an orange jumpsuit but then decided otherwise. If they could not see the humour in suspecting a 3-month-old baby of being a terrorist, then this might backfire.
“He’s obviously never engaged in genocide, or espionage, but he has sabotaged quite a few nappies in his time, though I didn’t tell them that at the US embassy,” he said.
While that was costly affair for the Kenyon family, it does bring to light how paranoid US security can be: Asking a terrorist to tick mark if he is considering an attack on the US in the form is clearly not the way to be thorough. And expecting a person to tick that box, is even more strange.
