Stylistically, "Friend" has a lot in common with a frequent FT poster.

Can't be because "friend" uses the word "confiscate."

Just remarking on the similarities. "Friend" is also 19 and I think the poster s/he reminds me of is older than 19.

Of course, this is the internet, so who knows what is real and what is not?

I'm curious, although I'm sure it's SSI, to know how TSA clears infants and toddlers who can't say their own names (or much of anything else)? Surely traffickers deal in infants and small children as well as those old enough to be taught to say their names to the person in blue.

Maybe friend is the judge who supposedly works for TSA.

From "Friend"
 

If he is a screener, I am astounded that he is still posting and still employed.

border patrol has done things like this for decades including other countries border patrol like canada

This TSA junk has clearly spread, as I’ve noticed CLEAR too has been doing this at times. Had the urge to tell the CLEAR reps a few times that I don’t think it’s good for children to be groomed to answer personal questions from strangers, especially when the questions are premised on an assumption of broken trust bonds within a family and thus may:

1. get the accompanying adult(s) to be viewed suspiciously by the accompanying children; and/or
2. otherwise make children feel insecure; and/or
3. even make children less secure when children get in the habit of revealing irrelevant personal details to strangers.

My 10 year old (sorry, "almost 11 year old" as she insists on being referred to as) daughter and I flew to DC and back this weekend. We used CLEAR at both RDU and DCA.

At RDU she was taken aside away from me, physically I might add, and asked "what's your name?", "who is he to you?", "What's your birthday?" "What's his name?" by the agent checking boarding passes. Once at the machines a second agent asked her the same questions again. This is our sixth trip together and the first time she's been asked anything more than "what's your name?". My daughter is very shy around strangers and was terrified by all this.

At DCA today we also had "what's your name?" "what's he to you?" and "What's your birthday?". At least we were ready for it.

What a bunch of theater. The idea that I would kidnap someone and then decide to give my fingerprints and retinal scans to CLEAR and then travel with my victim through CLEAR so they could track me is so absurd.

I thought Clear was a private company? So, Clear personnel are not government actors like TSOs. Why would you allow your minor child to be separated from you and interrogated like that? Would you let airline employees do it at the gate? Would you let rental car employees do it at the counter?

At a security checkpoint, you'll always have some backup. TSOs are closest, but there is often some kind of law enforcement presence at or near c/ps as well, so when a stranger tries to lead your child away from you, DON'T LET THEM.

Then there's your phrasing "physically I might add". Does this mean that the Clear employee actually put their hands on your child? Did they lead her off by grabbing her arm or something? That's not just inappropriate, it's outright assault. RAISE A FUSS (I'd use much stronger terminology here if FT allowed it).

No private company has the right or the authority to physically separate minor children from their accompanying adult guardians, let alone lay hands on either the child or the adult. And frankly, any company that tried such a thing would instantly lose my business permanently. Getting through the line quicker is not worth allowing a child to be interrogated by strangers, groomed to automatically hand out PII in an unsecure public setting, or allow ANYONE to touch them in any fashion.

Because it came as a complete surprise. This is our sixth trip just the two of us along with a whole bunch with my wife and her and this is has never happened before. The occasional TSA agent has asked for her name but this is the first time we used CLEAR at RDU (they only opened two weeks ago) and it caught me unawares.

You can believe me when I say this won't happen again. Sadly I've shared my story in a few Facebook travel groups and people have not only reported that it's common but seem to support this kind of behavior by CLEAR employees who as you said aren't LE.

I have no doubt that sexism, racism and even ageism are in play with regard to the likelihood of this kind of harassment hitting some people traveling alone with their own (biological) child/children more than it happens to others traveling with their own (biological) child/children.

I also have no doubt that the DHS is part of the reason why CLEAR does this kind of thing in the way CLEAR does and that there may be at least some informal collaboration/signalling between CLEAR and the TSA on how this goes in practice. I've often seen that the this "stop child/human trafficking" interrogation thing is done by the CLEAR reps at airports but then the TSA travel doc checkers don't ask the same children the same thing when the TSA TDCers know the family members came via the CLEAR lines.

I may have to set up some more situations where I get the accompanying kids traveling with just one parent in my travel parties to refuse to speak English to the CLEAR employees and to the TSA TDCers to see how far CLEAR and/or the TSA will push the matter. Some of these kids area already aware of unnecessary questioning coming their way because they and/or their families are more likely to be subjected to racist, sexist and other bigotry during the course of their travels just because the prejudiced are captives of their own lazy minds dependent upon shallow stereotypes about what is a family what is not.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of fearful people in this country who seem to be willing to not only endure, but foist upon everyone else, any depredation or violation of both rights and peoples' bodies, in the name of safety or security. The same knee-jerk "anything for security!" reaction has been common with TSA's practices, like the early body scanners that used ionizing radiation and showed graphic photos of subjects' bodies in public settings, or the 'enhanced chat-down' interrogation conducted by TDCs, or the full-body rubdown with repeated genital contact used for body scanner alarm resolution that is ludicrously called a 'pat-down'. Any time I have complained on social media about such egregious violations of peoples' bodies or their rights, I get the same tired old line, "I'd rather be uncomfortable for a couple of minutes than explode in midair!" Which is a false choice, of course.

So I'm not surprised that there are people who defend the insanity of putting children at risk of predation to protect them from predation. It's crazy, but it's not surprising.

At least now you'll be prepared for this in the future and can teach your kid what to expect and help her to react appropriately herself.

Taking Minors through TSA Check
 

I occasionally travel with my teenage kids and the variation in screening intensity really surprises me. I know human trafficking is always a focus and it's nice to see the agents actually take a minute and ask my kids a few questions. Most times the agents barely look up but this morning the guy asked some really good questions to all three of my kids. Basically, who the other kids were and what relation to each other and me there were. Anyone else have anything noteworthy with respect to traveling with kids?