LONDON - A Muslim New Jersey mayor said Monday the Secret Service denied him entry to the White House for a reception hosted by President Joe Biden to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, write Marita Vlachou in the Huffington Post and Edwin Rios in the London Guardian.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed T. Khairullah told NBC News that Secret Service informed him shortly before he was due to arrive that he didn’t receive the clearance required to enter the premises. Khairullah added he believes his name was on an FBI watchlist by mistake. He said it has been an issue when traveling in the past, but he thought it had already been resolved.

“I’m baffled,” he told NBC News. In a Facebook post, Khairullah wrote the incident “reeks of #Islamophobia by certain federal agencies.” The Secret Service confirmed Khairullah was denied entry, but declined to provide further details.

“It’s not a matter of I didn’t get to go to a party,” he told AP about Monday’s incident. “It’s why I did not go. And it’s a list that has targeted me because of my identity.

And I don’t think the highest office in the United States should be down with such profiling.”