Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams accused US President Barack Obama’s administration of singling him out after he was stopped at the gates of the White House on Tuesday for a lengthy security check when he arrived for a St Patrick’s Day reception.
Adams, a member of the Irish Parliament, has been a guest at the reception since the mid-1990s, when he took part in the Northern Ireland peace process.
“I arrived at the proper time and had all the appropriate documentation,” he said.
However, he said a guard told him there was a “an issue of ‘security.’”
“I wasn’t disturbed when they said they had a problem because that happens all the time,” he said, adding that he felt as if he were in a receiving line, greeting the other guests as they filed past him.
However, after waiting more than an hour, Adams left.
“It’s my strong view that Sinn Fein representatives are on a list of some sort,” he said. “We’re given extra scrutiny; we’re given extra searches. It’s not proper, it’s not courteous and it’s not fair.”
The US Secret Service apologized for the delay, which it attributed to an “administrative input error.”
Secret Service spokesman Robert Hobak, said it regretted not resolving the situation “in a more timely manner.”
US Representative Peter King, a supporter of the Irish republican movement, said the episode was “totally inexcusable.”
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