[StacyL]

Read the article here:<br><a href="http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/tsa_strip_searches_amok.htm" target="_blank">http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/...rches_amok.htm</a><br><br>
Excerpt:<br><i><b>There were also charges that profiling is going on for preselection to be strip searched, i.e. a woman with large breasts. One TSA employee has also made the accusation that some of the TSA screeners deliberately kick the magnetometers to set them off in order to be able to pull a well-endowed passenger out of line in order to take them to an office and have them disrobe down to the skin.</b></i><br><br>
This has gotten totally out of control. I am flying home at Christmas, and I am actually nervous about flying. This is a total violation of our Constitutional right under Article VI of the Bill Of Rights protecting us against unreasonable search and seizure, which states:<br><br><i><b>"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."</b></i><br><br>
Read the article here, and this excerpt regarding what they did to a breastfeeding mother...<br><br><i><b>In another media report in October, Ava Kingsford was told by a female screener, "I'm going to feel your breasts now." This young mother who is breast feeding objected, even breaking down and crying, about having her breasts touched and squeezed. She was finally denied boarding. Even though she pulled down her tank top to show there was nothing there but her breasts, she refused to have them touched, at which time the screeners announced she would wasn't going to fly. Kingsford had to rent a car and drive from Denver International to San Diego; a trip lasting 16 hours. In violation of TSAs own rules, her luggage was not retrieved for her even though she waited several hours at the airport.</b></i>

 

[mamajessica]

Holy SH**! I will be looking into this. Totally disgusting.

 

[number572]

Ya know, I'd be surprised... but EVERY flippin' time I fly (which is around 5+ X/year) they pull me aside, letting waaay more suspicious-looking people pass thru, tell me to take off my shoes, socks, undo my belt & top button of my jeans & lift my shirt so they can *see* my belly ring - no, not pg, just pierced (still haven't seen anyone else get that) as they pass the metal detector over my front. & of course then they proceed to take EVERYTHING out of my carry-ons, including MY PURSE in front of everyone... snooping around, opening my laptop & camera bags, all of it. I always feel so helpless & pissed as they shove everything back into the bags, so disrespectful, not even apologetic or empathetic... just acting like some frickin' police dog waiting to bust someone, b'c they're bored. I have been experiencing this crap for at least two years... I have a long last name that isn't North American sounding & also I live in Miami, so maybe these two reasons make them suspicious. Wow, so sorry to rant like this! It just upsets me so much, their bs attitudes, the invasive process, all done in front of about 100 people who are waiting in line with nothing better to do than watch the search. ARGH.<br><br>
Oh, & to make it even worse... my asshole BIL actually said "it's just b'c you have crazy hair!" wtf? Of course, after I thought that over... HE IS the total stereotypical frat-boy turned lawyer, so need I expect better?<br><br>
& now reading about STRIP SEARCHING! Well, fack, guaranteed I'll be asked to strip I guess... if you see a skinny, pale, flat-chested, crazy-haired, NUDE Miamian looking all pissed-off next time you fly - come say "hi" cuz that's probably me! Jerks... sickly, my only advantage in contrast to the posted article is that I'm an "A" cup. How is this intrusion even legal? Makes me so glad to live in a free country. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/angry.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="angry"> Don't get me wrong - I'm all for security, but this crap is totally random (except for taking off shoes & jackets). Just b'c someone looks slightly non-Cosmo, doesn't make them a threat!<br><br>
Seriously, does this happen to anyone else? I'm not talking about removing your jacket or hat... I mean the whole thing, carry-ons, belts, socks & all. Even my mum told me I should call the airport to get the list of acceptable search options after she saw how they ruffled thru my bags (holding my underwear up in the air for goodness sake & opened boxes of tea & incense I'd been given) when she dropped me off once (small midwestern airport). Of course I never did, but that's just b'c I'm a huge procrastinator <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"><br><br>
mmm, this topic reeeeeeally irritates.

 

[calpurnia]

When my blind grandmother flew into LA last year she came through security in a wheelchair... She was still searched and interrogated for three and a half hours. She's an 85 year old white South African travelling on a British passport. She was absolutely terrified.

 

[cozymama]

I am DISGUSTED after reading this article. It's horrific how women's bodies have become a physical battleground for state policies of (rather than against, me thinks) terror. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/angry.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="angry"> I have to fly tomorrow morning with my partner and son.....argh. The last time we flew (which was my first time in 10 years b/c I HATE planes) we got treated badly b/c 1) we had a carseat and 2) had ds in a sling. He's almost 2 so I have no problem taking him out of the sling so they can inspect it (he wasn't sleeping or anything) but when they insisted that he walk through the metal detector alone I calmly inquired as to why that was neccesary. In the end they were terribly rude to dp with the carseat, even though it was totally clean, empty and frankly quite easy to x-ray. I fail to see how rudeness keeps me safer <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/eyesroll.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="roll">

 

[StacyL]

Number572,<br><br>
Like you, I am constantly pulled out when I fly and made to do all the things you experienced. Last Thanksgiving, I was so aggressively prodded with that wand-like device it seemed like an assault. And because they emptied my bags, I nearly missed my plane AND I LOST my passport, because apparently the guy didn't put it back in my bag. (This was at Chicago Midway.) I ended up getting my passport back at the lost and found when I came back through on my return.<br><br>
I am scared now because I will be flying with my 3 month-old. And I am attractive and large-breasted (because of bf'ing) which I fear will make me an even bigger target. The bottom line is no one will touch my body - period! And no one will touch my child. I hope this doesn't mean I end up DRIVING home!<br><br>
This just started on September 22, (the body searches) and I have seen other women in the news complaining of being groped - including Broadway actress Patti Lupone, and Barbara Walters. This is a total violation of our Constitutional rights, and somebody needs to get on this and file suit against the federal government and the private security companies contracted by the TSA to get this stopped immediately. Are there any lawyer mamas here on this board that can speak to the illegal nature of these searches? And what can women do in these situations? This must be stopped!

 

[guerrillamama]

This is appalling, and unconstitutional in the sense of sex discrimination, but might not be unconsitutional against the 4th Amendment (unreasonable search & seizure). A regular airport search is consitutional, regardless of issues of reasonable suspicion that arise w/ a police search, b/c airports are private property, no one is forcing you to get on th plane, and supposedly you "consent" to a search by choosing to go to the airport and get on the plane. The right of airports to search everyone/anyone they choose is well-settled in the courts. Of course they do not have the right to discriminate based on race, gender, etc but that is always very difficult to prove, especially in this age of anything-goes-in-the-name-of-national-security.<br><br>
However I *think* that strip search would require a finding of reasonable suspicion. I'm gonna go look that up...<br><br>
I just want to note that people of color - and especially African American women - have been getting profiled and humiliated by airport searches for a looooooooooong time - decades before 9/11, in fact. For example:<br><a href="http://archive.aclu.org/action/airprofile107.html" target="_blank">http://archive.aclu.org/action/airprofile107.html</a><br>
So, while this is disgusting and must be stopped, please understand it is nothing new.<br><br>
BTW I am a law student not a lawyer.

 

[StacyL]

But what about probable cause? There is none!<br><br>
A police officer cannot make me get out of my car to search me without probable cause, so why would a federal government-run security company be able to do this without probable cause? Flying, in and of itself, is not a "suspicious" activity and certainly would not constitute probable cause.<br><br>
The Bill of Rights protects us against UNREASONABLE search and seizure. Passing my bag through an x-ray machine or stepping through a metal detector is REASONABLE search. Asking regular, random citizens - male OR female - to disrobe and be groped is UNREASONABLE search.

 

[guerrillamama]

Right, a strip search does require reasonable suspicion (not probable cause).<br><br>
I ran across <a href="http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2002-01/18/article58.shtml" target="_blank">this article</a> about a Muslim woman strip-searched at O'Hare. Her case (1st, 4th, and 14th Amendment) is still in the courts. This was just before the TSA took over all airport security, so I'm not sure that it would be that relevant to this situation, as far as precedent.

 

[hjohnson]

Good Lord! I am glad that didn't happen to me. We just flew home from Denver on the 2nd. The most annoying part of security was, taking off the shoes, the jackets, taking the baby out of the car seat, taking the car seat out of the stroller, folding the damn stroller, taking the lap top out of the case, taking the digital cam corder out of the case, sending 4 bags, 2 car seat, stroller, 3 jackets, and 2 pairs of shoes down the coveyor belt, and playing pass the baby through the metal detector. Thankfully they had enough sense in Denver to close the line behind us so we didn't felt rushed through Security like we did in Greensboro.

 

[cappuccinosmom]

What would be a reasonable cause for squeezing someone's breasts? How would you put anything in them, or get anything but milk out? Too bizarre. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/headscratch.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="headscratch"> Like some young mom with a baby is going to hide razor blades in her breasts. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/eyesroll.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="roll"><br><br><br>
Gosh, I'm glad we have no money to do any travelling right now. :LOL When i went over to marry dh in Ethiopia, I ended up being a "suspicious" passenger. They whispered and pointed at us for half an hour, and then waited until just before we were to board, and then pulled us out of line, and strewed all our luggage over a table with the whole line of people looking on and probably wondering "Oh, my gosh, is that weird looking, headcovering, modestly dressed girl a terrorist???????" <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">:<br><br>
I'm thinking next time we fly I need to get a notarized certificate: "Hi, I am not a terrorist. I have never killed anybody before and have no intention of doing so. (Enclosed is a notice of that fact from the police) Feel free to look through all my luggage. I have been careful not to pack anything suspicious. Please do not strip-search me as I make an effort to be extremely modest in daily life and you would traumatize me, and then I would have to sue you for millions, and then I'd have my husband meet you in a dark alley and traumatize *you* for the humiliation you put his wife through". :LOL

 

[number572]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>guerrillamama</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I just want to note that people of color - and especially African American women - have been getting profiled and humiliated by airport searches for a looooooooooong time - decades before 9/11, in fact. For example:<br><a href="http://archive.aclu.org/action/airprofile107.html" target="_blank">http://archive.aclu.org/action/airprofile107.html</a><br>
So, while this is disgusting and must be stopped, please understand it is nothing new.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
<br>
guerrillamama, yeah, you're right on there - my dp is latino & was hired on to a major entertainment co & issued his extended working/living visa (had a passport already) before he ever came to the U.S. He'd lived a year in London, originally from South America, then ended up in the U.S. for now. He's been traveling worldwide for years now, but about nine years ago, he was coming from a pitstop in Spain, back to Miami & actually got strip searched (bend over & all) & interrogated for about six hours, missed the flights, etc. That happened in New York, not sure which airport though... anyway, he didn't speak english well at that time & was pretty scared he tells me. He actually said he felt sick the whole time & dizzy b'c he didn't know what they would do next. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
Anyway, can anything be done now? Cap's idea of some kind of safe-citizen ID would be awesome, but it could be too easily taken advantage of & copied by actual threats.<br><br>
Oh & StacyL, Chicago Midway IS one that I frequently have used! JFK was the most leniant with the search. & the small-town ones have been just atrocious!

 

[Pam_and_Abigail]

The strip searching seems very wrong!<br>
As far as losing things, dh's boss was flying to a conference, and was in a hurry, so when they emptied his laptop bag to inspect it, he didn't notice until way to late that they "forogt" to put the laptop back in it. It was not only for demonstartion of their software, but had important development stuff on it. Still not as bad as being groped though.

 

[Terpatude]

To give another point of view..I have been pulled out of line many times whle traveling with DH and 2 kids.. I do not have wild hair, what ever that is <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"> ) I AM Definelty NOT well endowed..I have no problem with TSA going through my stuff..I want to be kept safe and if they fell a need to lok more closely at me..I say HAVE AT IT....I know I am not a terrorist but THEY don't know it..Would you all perfer them to pull JUST the men out who are 20-35 years old, with middle eastern looking faces, names and passports?? would not many of you then bitch about racial profilign and how unfair THAT is? I am not sure of the anaswer, but I hav e no problem with them searching me each and every time..perhaps it has something to do with the fact that DH was orginially scheduled on one of the flights that was crashed on Spet 11th..Luckily his plans changed and he flew out one wekk earlier...

 

[number572]

it's more the attitude that seems to irritate people & make them feel slightly violated. losing someone's passport? misplacing someone's laptop? squeezing breasts? some people have a hard enough time with yearly exams by a certified healthcare practitioner - they should strive to be at the very least polite & empathetic to that mom with the small children, baggage, stroller, carseat, etc. i said earlier that i'm all for security, but there should be a better system. even a separate area to conduct a search would be better than doing it in front of allll of those still in line. i really didn't feel up to flashing my belly to 100 people... or having my underwear waved in front of the other passengers, kwim? the way they're choosing to behave while doing their jobs is quite rude & intrusive.<br><br>
and who exactly is the one sueezing the breasts anyway... are they a healthcare professional? has their background been checked? who are they & how are they qualified? i've wished i could just drive (& have a few times) b'c it's just so ridiculous.<br><br>
why aren't people checked on the subway or train or bus? or at a mall? and from what i've seen, it IS totally random still - which is what irritates as well. if everyone in line was subject to the same brand of searching & bag checking it wouldn't feel as ugly, possibly. not sure what the solution would be, but attitude definitely plays a huge part, from what is written in this thread.

 

[StacyL]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Terpatude</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I want to be kept safe and if they fell a need to lok more closely at me..I say HAVE AT IT....I know I am not a terrorist but THEY don't know it..Would you all perfer them to pull JUST the men out who are 20-35 years old, with middle eastern looking faces, names and passports?? would not many of you then bitch about racial profilign and how unfair THAT is? ..</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
This isn't the point. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, white or Middle Eastern. NO ONE should be subjected to invasive, random, physical searches. This is not Nazi Germany! Under our Constitution we are guaranteed the rights of freedom of movement without being forced to "show your papers" or strip! Ironic that your siggy quotes a Rockefeller - one of the main globalist elite families who wants to do away with your liberties.

 

[ekblad9]

Well, I've flown twice in my life but the last time was this past August. They pulled me aside and were very, very rude to me. My pregnant belly was "searched" as was everything that I owned. They checked out my breasts as well. I had no idea it was THAT unusual, though I was disgusted at the time. Now my fear of flying is not because of terrorists but because of security.

 

[CerridwenLorelei]

thank goodness I quit flying when ds was a toddler<br>
I could never do it now because of the pacemaker<br><br><a href="http://www.medtronic.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Medtronic/Website/StageArticle&ConditionName=Urgency-Frequency&Stage=Diagnosis&Article=urinary_art_interstim" target="_blank">http://www.medtronic.com/servlet/Con..._art_interstim</a><br><br>
I don't have a link because it was in a newsletter but someone that has one like mine still has a case going<br>
they had their id card we must carry and even their xrays showing the device and he still was charged with a 'terroristic device"<br><br>
groping of breasts or genitals doesn't seem to me like 'searching" it sounds like sexual harrassment to me personally

 

[CerridwenLorelei]

ughhhh <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/blush.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="blush">

 

[jadegirl553]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Terpatude</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">To give another point of view..I have been pulled out of line many times whle traveling with DH and 2 kids.. I do not have wild hair, what ever that is <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"> ) I AM Definelty NOT well endowed..I have no problem with TSA going through my stuff..I want to be kept safe and if they fell a need to lok more closely at me..I say HAVE AT IT....I know I am not a terrorist but THEY don't know it..Would you all perfer them to pull JUST the men out who are 20-35 years old, with middle eastern looking faces, names and passports?? would not many of you then bitch about racial profilign and how unfair THAT is? I am not sure of the anaswer, but I hav e no problem with them searching me each and every time..perhaps it has something to do with the fact that DH was orginially scheduled on one of the flights that was crashed on Spet 11th..Luckily his plans changed and he flew out one wekk earlier...</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
<br>
Did you read the links, Terpatude? This is more than just a simple search. This is physical violation and humiliation.