Baby (illustrative)
Baby (illustrative)iStock

Harvey Kenyon-Cairns is a 3-month-old British infant, but the US Embassy in London suspected him of being a terrorist.

When Kenyon-Cairns' travel documents did not arrive on time for their UK-Orlando vacation, Grandpa Paul Kenyon,62, made what he called an "honest mistake."

While filling out the forms from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, the elder Kenyon accidentally checked "yes" for the question, one of the queries on a long list, "Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?"

Because of the mistakenly checked "yes" box, Harvey's visa was denied and the Kenyon family was forced to take him on a 10-hour round trip to the London Embassy.

The family was then forced to rebook their flights, to the tune of $3,700.

After the interview, the US Embassy cleared Harvey of "all terrorist ties."

Paul Kenyon relates, "I had no idea I had made a mistake on the baby's form until Harvey's travel was refused to the USA. 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."

"I went down with him and his mum and took him in for the interview, but he can't even speak as he's so young. 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.

"They didn’t appear to have a sense of humor 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 (diapers - ed.) in his time, though I didn’t tell them that at the US Embassy.

"It was a very expensive mistake, but I was hoping the US Embassy would realize that it was just a simple error without us having to jump through all the hoops.

"If you were a terrorist, I suspect you’d not be ticking 'yes' on the ESTA form anyway."