AMY GOODMAN: And they were you, your sister, your mother.

ARWA IBRAHIM: My other sister and my brother were also there. And when they were holding us there for the five hours, the Homeland Security officers were very rude. They threatened to arrest my mother. They also threatened to hold us longer if we complained. They didn't provide us with enough seating. They didn't provide us with food or water. And whenever we asked if we could have these things, if they could be given to us, they said that it’s not the government’s job to provide them for us.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, they threatened to arrest you? For what?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: I was just asking the officer to speak nicely to the people instead of yelling at them. And he said, “Well, I'll arrest you, if you don't be quiet.”

AMY GOODMAN: Did they question you?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Yes. Job question, about like where do I work and how long have you been there. And also they asked us if we have any weapon training. Do we fencing?

AMY GOODMAN: Fencing?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Fencing.

ARWA IBRAHIM: They said, do we fence or hunt, because that counts as weapons training.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you fence?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: No. No, I don't. And none of my children do.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And the passengers there were from all the various flights that were coming in?

ARWA IBRAHIM: Yes, they were. JFK is saying that they're not racially profiling, that what they're doing is they’re just asking further questions of people that are coming from the Middle East. But actually that's not true, because we had many white passengers on our flight from Dubai that were not further questioned, that were allowed to claim their baggage. So it was very obvious that it was racial profiling.

AMY GOODMAN: Did they ask you all together in the group of your sisters, brother, your mom?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Well, two groups. First, the three of us: me, my son and my daughter -- my older daughter. And then, they asked -- we left, and they asked Sumia and Arwa. And specifically, she asked me to leave. I really wanted to stay with my other daughters, but she specifically asked me to leave.

JUAN GONZALEZ: I would think that if it were the other two children -- were either of them minors at all?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: No, no. Like, the youngest we have is 20, so --

JUAN GONZALEZ: And has anything like this happened in the past, when you’ve traveled?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Never. Never.

ARWA IBRAHIM: No. That’s never happened before.

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: We were very surprised really.

AMY GOODMAN: We also called Homeland Security's Custom and Border Protection and invited them on the program. They declined to join us, but we got this email from public affairs officer, Eric Blum. Let me just read a portion. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not use racial profiling. However, CBP officers may scrutinize more closely individuals from high-risk countries. CBP denies entry to thousands of individuals every year on grounds of inadmissibility, some of which include improper travel documents, prohibited activities or intent, traveling under the Visa Waiver Program without qualifying for participation in that program, smuggling of contraband or prohibited goods, criminal activity or history, immigration violations such as prior visa overstay, attempting to gain entry with fraudulent documents or posing as an imposter, watch list match or national security concerns, among others.” It goes on for a while, and it says, “CBP does not comment on individual cases, as this information is protected under the Privacy Act.” After six hours, what did they say to you?

ARWA IBRAHIM: Nothing. We were just walked out the door. No explanations.

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Well, first, they asked us to go to another line. We were supposed to leave -- look at our passport and leave. But then, when he looked at our passport again, he said, “Well, go to the other line.” And there, they asked us to open our luggage, and they want to search it. He left us for about 15 minutes. Then, he came back. Then, he started to search our luggage.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And there was never any apology for the delay, or for the five-hour delay that you had there?

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Not at all.

ARWA IBRAHIM: No apology. No explanation.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re also joined on the phone by Omar Mohammedi. He is representing Nagham Al-Yaqoubi and her family and is president of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Omar Mohammedi.

OMAR MOHAMMEDI: Thank you for having me on.