NSW Greens politician Mehreen Faruqi says she and her husband were subjected to "racial profiling" after being detained while trying to clear immigration control at Los Angeles International Airport.
Dr Faruqi had travelled to the US as part of a self-funded trip investigating drug law reform.
The Greens member of the NSW Legislative Council and party spokesperson on drugs and harm minimisation said she was detained alongside her husband for more than an hour.
After initially presenting her passport and undergoing biometric testing, officials allegedly asked the pair how they obtained their Australian passports.
"We said it was because we lived there and they asked where we were originally from," Dr Faruqi said in a statement.
"When we said Pakistan we were told that someone would be escorting us to the interview room."
In the statement, she noted that she was separated from her husband and interrogated in front of about 10 others people.
"The interview was along the same lines: 'why are you here, do you have a Pakistani passport, have you been to Pakistan, what do you do there?'," Dr Faruqi said.
"To be asked how I got an Australian passport is ridiculous on one level and heart-wrenching at another."
"You don’t expect it, you know you haven’t done anything. It’s a little bit embarrassing."
The pair were eventually released and allowed to commence their tour of the US - where she will meet with drug law reform experts and campaigners in California and Oregon.
Dr Faruqi has resided in Australia for the past 24 years - becoming a citizen two years after initially migrating.
© ninemsn 2016
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