US Denies Man Passport For Bermuda Trip

An American who has been trying to have his passport renewed since June so he can visit his 19-year-old son in Bermuda says he has become entangled in US State Department red tape because he’s a black man who looks “Iranian”, claiming he’s  a victim of profiling and telling Washington authorities: “You gave Obama a passport – and his father wasn’t a citizen.”

Pennsylvania resident Michael Hudson was described in the “Philadelphia Daily News” today [Feb.14]  as “a prisoner of America” — a 54-year-old US citizen with no criminal record who has been repeatedly thwarted in his attempts to get a passport so he can travel to the island and see his son who lives here.

“Hudson was hoping to go [to Bermuda’ in July, but when he hadn’t received his passport by August, he called the regional office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was told that his application was still being processed,” said columnist Stu Bykofsky. “In September, the office asked him for more information — educational, medical, financial and familial.

“In November he sent in copies of his credit card and Social Security card, his driver’s license, a water bill and a school report card. In January, the government wanted more, including work records and relatives’ contact info. The passport process should take four to six weeks. He’s been at it seven months.

“So Hudson blew a fuse. ‘I said angry things,’ Hudson admits … ‘It looks like I’m Iranian. My hair is long … ‘You gave Louis Farrakhan a passport. You gave Malcolm X a passport,’ he remembers telling the passport office. ‘I’m not like a guy from out of the country [coming here] to fly airplanes [into buildings]. You allowed them in here, not me. Now you’re blaming me, because of my looks. You gave Obama a passport – and his father wasn’t a citizen’ …”

Mr. Bykofsky — who described Mr. Hudson as “eccentric” — said a red flag probably went up with Federal authorities when he mentioned the President.

“More red flags were added when, over the phone and in writing, he dropped cluster F-bombs. Using obscenities didn’t help his case,” said the Mr. Bykofsky, a columnist since Bykofsky since 1987 and one of the most widely read journalists in Philadelphia.

Now Mr. Hudson — who was subsequently visited and interviewed by US Federal agents after his outbursts – wants to meet with President Obama to resolve the matter.

The State Department told Mr. Bykofsky it could not comment on its reasons for dragging its feet on Mr. Hudson’s passport application, citing privacy regulations.

“Whose privacy?” asked the columnist. “Hudson’s talking with the press. Clearly, Hudson’s not a go-along-to-get-along guy — and in America he shouldn’t have to be. He ought to get either a passport or an explanation.”

Michael Hudson photograph courtesy of “Philadelphia Daily News”

#AmericanRelations

Category: All