A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday alleges that U.S. Customs Service officials at O'Hare International Airport single out black women for strip searches after international flights.

The civil rights suit, filed on behalf of 18 African-American women, maintained that Customs officers had no legal basis to pat down or strip search the women for narcotics.

Article Abstract

Passengers stopped for a search typically are simply given a quick pat down, but African-American women were by far the demographic group most likely to be subjected to the more intrusive strip searches. In 1998, 11 percent of black women passengers who were chosen for searches were strip-searched versus 6 percent of all U.S. citizens for which information on race and gender were available.

Another

The Government Accounting Office looked at records of 102,000 airline passengers selected for searches by the U.S. Customs Service in 1997 and 1998. The GAO report, released this week, found that African-American women traveling on international flights were much more likely to be picked out for strip searches than men and women in other demographic groups.

Yet Another

Customs agents said they chose passengers to be searched based on factors such as who seemed nervous or gave inconsistent answers to questions, according to [Miner]. But Miner said those criteria were subjective and unreliable. He said the agents disproportionately searched black women, yet "they virtually never found drugs."

Settlement

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