alphatarget1

Just got through the security checkpoint about 20 minutes ago. I can't believe the TSA agents picked a pre-teen white girl who is wearing a "keep Austin weird" shirt for "additional screening". I asked the girl's mom if she was going to let them do that to her and she said, "what can I do, tell them no?".

I walked away in disgust, I wasn't going to stand there and watch TSA agents molest a poor girl who presents no threat to anybody whatsoever.

Sigh.

LeeAnne

Yep. Tax-dollar-supported pedophilia at work.

Disgusting.

ScottC

I'm far from a TSA apologist, but what makes you confident she was not a threat to anyone?

alphatarget1

I may have my sarcasm meter broken but the girl was no taller than 4'6". She was travelling with her family.

It's a travesty that we allow our children to be treated in such a way in the name of "security".

Boggie Dog

If you view it from a risk factor, what is the degree of risk from a young female with family?

I would say no risk.

alphatarget1

I guess the TSA agents picked her because there is a non-zero chance that she hid something in one or more of her orifices to cause harm to her fellow passengers.

TheGolfWidow

What could the mom have done, in the moment?

This is a serious question.

nachtnebel

^^^^
yep. they picked her either because they are stupid or because they are perverted. or both.

they pick on the very young, the very old, and the infirm.

Boggie Dog

She could have at least stated her objections then closely watched the screener conduct the frisk.

LeeAnne

Okay, so I ask you: what do you honestly think are the chances that a Caucasian pre-teen female in America is a terrorist with intentions of taking down a commercial aircraft? Or is being used as a mule to carry weapons onto a plane by an adult terrorist? Or is any kind of a threat to aviation safety at all?

1 in 10? 1 in 100? 1 in...oh...say...700 million?

I'm sorry, but the infinitesimal chance that she might be a suicidal terrorist carrying explosives is simply not worthy of violating her privacy and 4th Amendment rights by performing a prison-style frisk on a pre-pubescent child.

If that was my daughter, I would have made a HUGE stink, and demanded that LEO be present, and that I be allowed to video her frisk. I do not allow strangers to touch my children. The very idea makes my blood boil.

TheGolfWidow

I cannot even begin to tell you how, as a mother, I feel about the idea of closely watching someone frisk my child simply because we are traveling from Point A to Point B. My job is to prevent this sort of thing, not to closely observe while someone does it.

I was really looking for something more practical, ie: try to leave the checkpoint and try another. Is there anything else anyone can suggest? I think it is important to look for some practical alternatives to watching one's child being pawed.

Saitek

she could have denied the TSA from groping her daughter for starters. Just because the courts have turned a blind eye to the blatent abuses of power doesnt mean we as americans should do so as well.

Instead of walking away, maybe you should have said something like 'The United State Constitution says that these sorts of searches are illegal. And until a court rules otherwise they are indeed illegal.'

Maxwell Smart

A couple of posts have both made reference to the child's race; I would be saddened if someone were to read this and come away with any implication that the outrage should be any less or different if the child was of another skin color. This incident is totally outrageous, and skin color should be irrelevant to this discussion.

Slide101

+1

In addition, I really think that single women traveling alone, women traveling with children, disabled people, and the elderly need some kind of protection and can no longer travel alone. They are targets and are being abused. I think it's incredible that in the U.S. of America this is happening.

PWM 22

"That's fine Ma'am, feel free to leave the airport. I take it you don't want to fly today."

Then she has a very upset kid not going to visit Mickey, or Grammy or whatever. Either that or she is stuck 2000+ miles from home with said kid and mommy will lose her job if they take the 3 days to drive home.

Until the law changes there is no good answer here. TSA fake-officers should not have the ability to lay their hands on anyone at all, and it should be absolutely verboten if that person is under 18. But that's not the current rule. "Do you want to fly today?" works very well for the TSA. Why change now?

Until some family with unimpeachable morals and unlimited resources challenges this crap we are all stuck worrying about our little ones.