TSA allowing illegal migrants to fly without proper documents
#31
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Speaking of which, the uproar at the TSA twitter site over this is both sad and comical, showing the gullibility and paranoia of the general public.
#32
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Up until fairly recently you could even fabricate a BP that would get you past the checkpoint but not onto a plane. That would let you more easily match the ID to the BP and swap airside.
#33
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I'm inclined to agree with WillCAD on this. The airlines wanted it, but I think the real mover wasn't paranoid clowns at DHS, I think the real mover was the government's ever-expanding desire to monitor its citizens' every move. That's backed up by potential profits - verifying ID requires tools and tools mean profits for someone. Things like their special little 'black lights', probably priced at ten times the civilian cost and the cute little custom-made (for a price) podia for the TDCs to stand at. Behind the scenes, it requires airlines to feed data to TSA about pax - and TSA spends taxpayer dollars developing and maintaining massive databases of all this information.
#35
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It would be significantly better for the public at large if TSA weren’t checking anyone for documents and instead skipped the whole “travel document check”/“ID verification” charade and instead just focus on screening passengers and belongings for prohibited weapons, explosives and incendiaries.
Have valid boarding pass? For government purposes, that should be enough of a document with which to get airside. Unfortunately, DHS/TSA and most of their fanbase doesn’t see it that way and so we get situations leading to complaints about what may seem to be inconsistency from the TSA in terms of what is required by the government to get airside even for domestic flights.
Have valid boarding pass? For government purposes, that should be enough of a document with which to get airside. Unfortunately, DHS/TSA and most of their fanbase doesn’t see it that way and so we get situations leading to complaints about what may seem to be inconsistency from the TSA in terms of what is required by the government to get airside even for domestic flights.
#36
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It would be significantly better for the public at large if TSA weren’t checking anyone for documents and instead skipped the whole “travel document check”/“ID verification” charade and instead just focus on screening passengers and belongings for prohibited weapons, explosives and incendiaries.
Have valid boarding pass? For government purposes, that should be enough of a document with which to get airside. Unfortunately, DHS/TSA and most of their fanbase doesn’t see it that way and so we get situations leading to complaints about what may seem to be inconsistency from the TSA in terms of what is required by the government to get airside even for domestic flights.
Have valid boarding pass? For government purposes, that should be enough of a document with which to get airside. Unfortunately, DHS/TSA and most of their fanbase doesn’t see it that way and so we get situations leading to complaints about what may seem to be inconsistency from the TSA in terms of what is required by the government to get airside even for domestic flights.
#37
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Bad actors who are, by definition, involved in something illegal, immoral, or violent, prepare for the pressures of their bad actions enough that a simple ID check isn't going to throw them, even if they are traveling under forged papers or assumed identity.
I mean, it's not IMpossible, it COULD happen, it's a THEORETICAL possibility, you don't know, it MIGHT work, MAYBE... But for all practical intents and purposes, ID checks do nothing but keep honest people honest and increase profits for those who make money from false IDs. I've never heard of someone traveling under false ID (fugitive, criminal, smuggler, terrorist, or sex tourist) being caught by a TSA TDC. Or, for that matter, any other type of ID check.
#38
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The resources wasted — and they are wasted — on TSA TDC is money that could have been better spent on screening for explosives in particular.