Baby mistakenly identifies as a terrorist was summoned to the US embassy for interview

The US embassy in London as summoned a three-month old baby for an interview after his grandfather mistakenly identified him as a terrorist.
On the part of the Esta form which states “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?” His grandfather ticked yes instead of no.

The baby, Harvey Kenyon-Cairns, was supposed to fly to Orlando in Florida for his first overseas holiday, until his grandfather Paul Kenyon made the blunder on a visa waiver form.

Paul only discovered his error when his grandson’s travel was denied. “I couldn’t believe that they couldn’t see it was a genuine mistake and that a three-month-old baby would be no harm to anyone,” said the 62-year-old.

The baby was taken from his home in Poynton, Cheshire, to the embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, to be questioned by officials. The round trip took about 10 hours, longer than the nine-and-a-half-hour flight time from Manchester to Orlando.

“Baby Harvey was good as gold for the interview and never cried once. I thought about taking him along in an orange jumpsuit, but thought better of it,” said Kenyon. “They didn’t appear to have a sense of humour over it at all and couldn’t see the funny side.

“He’s obviously never engaged in genocide, or espionage, but he has sabotaged quite a few nappies in his time, though I didn’t tell them that at the US embassy.”

The mistake cost Kenyon an extra £3,000, because the new visa didn’t arrive in time for the family’s flights.

“It was a very expensive mistake, but I was hoping the US embassy would realise that it was just a simple error without us having to jump through all the hoops,” said Kenyon.

He added: “If you were a terrorist, I suspect you’d not be ticking yes on the Esta form anyway.”