When I was a new hijabi I didn't have my passport changed and they were about to make me take off my hijab. No matter how much I told them I couldn't take it off they still wanted me to.

This past December, I had a pat down on; on our way back my husband had a “random” special check.

The worst part is I can see my wife and children get worried sometimes because we could be separated.

Being a Muslim American is extremely difficult due to ongoing discrimination and harassments.

Travelers to the US notice the types of people getting searched and it leads to the kinds of incidents where people complain about you reading Arabic on a plane, or saying assalamu alaykum on the phone.

Recently caved in and purchased PreCheck. Feel squeezed that the US government created a false premise for screening passengers and then have to pay an additional cost to lessen the amount of scrutiny.

You get treated differently. You'll never be home. It's like a curse.

I tried to appeal. Useless. Just a garbled, illiterate reply. It's a life sentence.

I was told I am on the no-fly list because there is evidence that I am really an Algerian terrorist who fought for independence there (Algeria became independent in 1962 and I was born in 1958).

I was taken aside for extra questioning when coming back to US after a trip to Spain in 2005.

Surprise, the agent saw my name and I was "randomly selected" for a search.

They said they were looking for a man with the same name as him so that took him in the back for a whole hour before letting him go.

I have no doubt that I was profiled based on my religion and country of birth by CBP. I was stopped and interrogated twice by CBP and the Terror Tactical Response Team upon my arrival back from international travel.

On every international flight I have taken I have been "randomly" selected for excessive security check-up.

I've been harassed by TSA on so many occasions that I can't even recall anymore.

My father, born in Pakistan but a U.S. citizen with an American passport, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at JFK.

For many years in the early 2000s, I was always singled out by CBP after an international flight. Either picked up at the plane door or my passport was flagged.

Last spring I was searched leaving the country to my native Mexico. It was humiliating.

Just last year in 2022, I had to go through additional security check because I was coming from Pakistan. I was traveling with my 4 year old son and we are both US citizens.

Flying while Muslim is a struggle. My fingers are tested and my hijab is always patted down, while others get to pass by with no extra security.

When i go through TSA, I’m sometimes asked to “come with me; we need to do a physical search.”

This was just after 9/11, 2001, my beard was about 4” long. TSA pulled myself and a Hasidic Jewish man aside and sat us in chairs about 4 feet apart. As both of us were getting our beards palpated I looked over at him with astonishment.

I'm always patted down and my hand scraped because I wear abaya and hijab.

I always get flagged by customs and treated like I am a terrorist or bad person.

While being mistreated at the airport, there are many times when I’ve felt like I might die or have my father get taken away from me for no reason or never be allowed to see my home again.