Father Says UA Falsely Accused Him of Trafficking His Own Daughter
Jeff Edwards April 19, 2017
The flyer claims he was singled out after a fellow passenger decided that his three-year-old daughter “did not look like him.”
A father and daughter returning home from visiting relatives in Mexico were put in the uncomfortable position of proving they were related after United Airlines workers allegedly related another passenger’s baseless claims to authorities. The accusing passenger on the flight from Cancún International Airport (CUN) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) reportedly based her assertion on the fact that the half-Mexican three-year-old girl had a lighter skin complexion than her father.
Maura Furfey, who was not on the flight, wrote about her husband and young daughter’s experience for the Huffington Post. The high school Spanish teacher, who had remained in the US on this trip, was on her way to greet her family at the airport when she learned that her husband and daughter had been removed from the flight by police and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents upon landing.
“Recalling the details now, I still struggle to believe them,” Furfey wrote in her account. “After our 3-year-old snoozed on her father’s lap for most of the flight, the plane landed. He texted me to tell me they had arrived. When the plane taxied to the gate, however, a number of officers from the Port Authority and Customs and Border Patrol boarded the plane, approached my husband and instructed him to grab his carry-ons and follow them. He and our daughter were escorted out of the plane before anyone else could get off.”
According to Furfey, authorities were not convinced that her husband was the little girl’s father until they spoke to her. Furfey, who is from the US and of Irish descent, described their daughter as a little girl who “looks like both of us: she has dark hair and almond eyes with white skin.” She characterized the incident as being based on nothing more than a “racially charged” accusation that could have been debunked with a simple check of the manifest and documentation the family provided the airline prior to the trip.
CBP officers said that they were simply following protocol and had no choice but to investigate once the crew member alerted them to the suspected case of human trafficking. When the Furfeys called United Airlines to complain about the company’s role in the family’s unfair treatment, the airline eventually offered an apology and a $100.00 travel voucher.
Furfey reports that neither she nor her husband have any plans to put the voucher to use.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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Why do so many people allege that checking the passports would help in this situation? Well, perhaps US passports contain details of parentage - in which case I apologise for asking the question. However, British passports certainly don't. When we married, the Memsahib made the decision that she would not change her name to mine - something I wholly support and have no issue with. However, this means that our Offspring do not share the same surname as her (as legitimate children and in accordance with British custom, they took my surname). She has (on multiple occasions) when entering the UK been asked to stand aside at Immigration while they quiz the children about why they are travelling with her. Fortunately they have always given the right answers! However, living in Hong Kong, we personally know MANY families who have adopted children of different ethnicity and also know quite a number of "mixed" families of two kinds - interracial marriages where the children strongly resemble one parent in terms of ethnic features but not the other, and families that have both natural (Caucasian, in each case that we personally know) and adopted (Chinese, again in each case that we personally know) children. In this day and age, that a child has a different colour of complexion from its parent should not be regarded as remarkable. Take a quick look at the Obama family! So, while I understand that human trafficking is a terrible thing, particularly where vulnerable children are involved, I do think that the accusation here does not seem to have had a particularly sound basis (on the information I have read, at least - perhaps there was more, but I haven't seen it reported) and therefore the reaction seems to have been disproportionate.
Checking is good. An acquaintance was out shopping with special needs grand daughter who was screaming at being carried on an escalator as she was scared. Someone reported them to police and man was questioned. The police apologised when they worked out the situation but he said don't apologise. If a stranger had taken her I'd want the man questioned too.
United is winning the race to the bottom including this amazing incident!
My brother/wife adopted two Korean babies. My brother has bright red curley hair. My SIL is blond. Both very white. My brother has often joked about a policeman coming to the door with his son asking "is this your son?". And saying "uh, what do you think?". Guess that's not so funny anymore. I agree with other commenters. This could have been handled much more discretely. In this day and age I don't see anything wrong with double checking but my oh my, use some sense about it.
So what happened to the passenger who reported this? Law enforcement should also look into him. This is a very serious accusation.