National

Former Greenville Police Chief allegedly detained at JFK airport

Melissa Glen
Mar 18, 2017
Mar 18, 2017 Updated May 11, 2020
6
1 min to read

Former Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden said he was unreasonably detained, after allegedly being forced to sit in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center for an hour and a half, which he detailed in a Facebook post earlier this evening.

“My freedoms were restricted, and I cannot be sure it won’t happen again, and that it won’t happen to my family, my children, the next time we travel abroad,” Aden said in the post.

Aden was returning from visiting his mother in Paris, when he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He said this is something he has done numerous times since becoming a U.S. citizen, but this is the first time he has been detained by CBP.

“On all of my prior trips, I was greeted by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers with a warm smile and the usual, ‘Welcome home sir’,” he said.

Aden said the officer who stopped him asked if he was traveling alone and then proceeded to escort him to a back room. He told the officers numerous times of his past experience as a police chief, but they continued to hold him saying someone on the watch list was using his name as an alias.

According to Aden, there were around 25 other foreign nationals who were also stopped by the CBP. However, they were released after a few minutes, while he stayed detained longer than anyone else.

“I told him as he avoided eye contact how wrong this scenario was that the only US citizen, career US police officer and chief of police out of the group of detainees was the one with the longest unreasonable detention,” Aden said.

He went on to include in his post that when he tried to take up his complaints with the CBP, they claimed he was not being detained.

“I was in a room with no access to my mobile phone to communicate with my wife and family about what was happening, my movements were restricted to a chair, and they had my passport, and he had the audacity to tell me I was not being detained,” Aden said.

After being released, he has continued to reach out to representatives about his experience and plans to continue reaching out to as many people as necessary.

“This country now feels cold, unwelcoming, and in the beginning stages of a country that is isolating itself from the rest of the world and its own people in an unprecedented fashion,” Aden said.

(6) comments

tinmanbxx Mar 19, 2017 8:48am

Welcome to the REAL world Chief....This is why we as Muslim must unite.......

david05 Jul 19, 2019 1:59am

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NelsonRobison Mar 19, 2017 3:11pm

What is this nation coming to? Is everyone with an Arabic sounding name now a suspect without so much as a suspicion? Are we all now guilty until proven innocent? I noticed one thing no mention was made of an apology to Retired Chief of Police Hassan Aden. Detaining someone with his record of service to his community is not only wrong but it shows just how fearful the real terrorists have made the government of this nation.

It's time to take the TSA and Customs and Border Patrol and revamp those agencies or totally eliminate them for the sake of our nation's reputation and for our own sanity. If we continue to give into fear, this nation is on the road to a fear filled and restrictive life. Benjamin Franklin wrote this and I will quote it exactly:
'Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve either one.'