TSA Agent Gropes Six Year-Old Girl

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a TSA outrage video, but this one should be going viral shortly. There’s no indication of where or when this was taken, but as Allahpundit notes, here we are almost ten years after 9/11 and our solution to the problem is to grope little kids:

This isn’t the only example of the fact that the TSA is continuing to engage in the actions that caused outrage in November. Last week, Hollywood actor Will Wheaton, who you may remember from the movie Stand By Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation, said that he was “violated” while departing LAX for a trip to Vancouver:

Yesterday, I was touched — in my opinion, inappropriately — by a TSA agent at LAX.

I’m not going to talk about it in detail until I can speak with an attorney, but I’ve spent much of the last 24 hours replaying it over and over in my mind, and though some of the initial outrage has faded, I still feel sick and angry when I think about it.

What I want to say today is this: I believe that the choice we are currently given by the American government when we need to fly is morally wrong, unconstitutional, and does nothing to enhance passenger safety.

I further believe that when I choose to fly, I should not be forced to choose between submitting myself to a virtually-nude scan (and exposing myself to uncertain health risks due to radiation exposure)1, or enduring an aggressive, invasive patdown where a stranger puts his hands in my pants, and makes any contact at all with my genitals.

When I left the security screening yesterday, I didn’t feel safe. I felt violated, humiliated, assaulted, and angry. I felt like I never wanted to fly again. I was so furious and upset, my hands shook for quite some time after the ordeal was over. I felt sick to my stomach for hours.

This is wrong. Nobody should have to feel this way, just so we can get on an airplane. We have fundamental human and constitutional rights in America, and among those rights is a reasonable expectation of personal privacy, and freedom from unreasonable searches. I can not believe that the TSA and its supporters believe that what they are doing is reasonable and appropriate. Nobody should have to choose between a virtually-nude body scan or an aggressive, invasive patdown where a stranger puts his or her hands inside your pants and makes any contact at all with your genitals or breasts as a condition of flying.

One wonders how often this goes on in American airports without anyone saying anything.

 

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Lynn N. says:

    Anyone opposed to TSA’s tyrannical tactics is invited to join us at Boycott Flying on Facebook.

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Flying/126801010710392

  2. Dave says:

    One wonders how often this goes on in American airports without anyone saying anything.

    Probably a lot since large majorities don’t think it’s that big a deal.

  3. jfoobar says:

    I dunno, this one doesn’t seem like it has the appropriate makings of a viral video. The girl isn’t crying, doesn’t appear to be traumatized, the mother isn’t freaking out, and (leaving out the debate over whether a patdown of a 6 year-old should ever happen) the screener seemed to be extremely professional and conscientious.

    It seems the TSA strategy in all of this outrage was to make a few minor procedural appeasements to the outrage and otherwise just ride out the storm. I think that strategy has worked pretty well so far.

  4. Southern Hoosier says:

    I’ll give TSA credit for three things 1) they had a woman search her and not a man. 2) they didn’t strip search her in public and 3) they didn’t give her a cavity search.

  5. mantis says:

    leaving out the debate over whether a patdown of a 6 year-old should ever happen

    Let’s not leave that debate out.

    It seems the TSA strategy in all of this outrage was to make a few minor procedural appeasements to the outrage and otherwise just ride out the storm. I think that strategy has worked pretty well so far.

    Of course it has. The little people (air travelers) have no way to do anything about it. You can’t escape the TSA, and you can’t fly without dealing with them. If you object to their methods, you miss your flight and find yourself in a small room somewhere. All in all, it’s a pretty fascist regime. I haven’t flown in years because I won’t comply with fascism. I’m fairly luck to have that choice (though I would really like to take a vacation someday).

  6. Southern Hoosier says:

    jfoobar says: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:34 “….the screener seemed to be extremely professional and conscientious.

    I agree the screener probably had a lot of experience searching children and knew how to do it without upsetting the child or the mother. I wish there had been more of the film at the beginning. I wonder how the searcher would have searched the mother, who was wearing a baggy sweatshirt, and could have actually concealed something. As opposed to the daughter with her tight outfit, who could probably not have concealed a toothpick.

  7. Southern Hoosier says:

    I think next time I fly, I’m going to wear a turban and my wife can wear a burqa. That should eliminate being searched by TSA

  8. mantis says:

    I think next time I fly, I’m going to wear a turban and my wife can wear a burqa. That should eliminate being searched by TSA

    Ha. Yeah, you try that and tell us how it goes.

  9. KMansfield says:

    Outrageous! It makes me angry watching this. It’s as if we have become chattel.

  10. Ron says:

    Well how about we rid the world of islam and all this crap will stop. Islam is a cancer extermination is the answer. Muslims are the problem people go after them.

  11. Ron says:

    Get all the muslims out of America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  12. Ron says:

    Zappos sponsrs the TSA. Time to boycott zappos. They are contributing to this happening!!!!!!

  13. Dee says:

    Um, no, Ron, bigoted paranoid freaks like you are the problem. Every single Muslim I know and love has more intelligence, compassion, and love in their little toes than you do in your entire body, from what I can tell from your deluded rants. Get a passport and see the world, and you will see how ridiculous your small-minded view of humanity is.

  14. Ron says:

    Guess what Dee Ive spent 17 years working on cruiseships I bet I been to more places than you. Yes Islam is the problem. Anywhere muslims go in the world theres all this caous civil wars , jihad terrorism, beheadings stonings etc. Look at almost every muslim country. Muslims are the ones blowing up planes not methoist or Lutherns. Its time for the STUPID west to stop being so PC and go after the ones causing the problems. MUSLIMS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The terrorist are just rolling on the floor laughing at the stupid west . I say next time a muslim blows up a plane, we take out entire muslim cities. Drop drones on their mosques. schools not only kill the terrorist but kill their children too. Its time for the west stop playing games. next time muslims blow up a plane we should really go wipe them out.

  15. Ron says:

    Next time I go to an airport im going to make sure I wear my DEATH TO ISLAM tee shirt.

  16. Ron says:

    Like Anne Coulter says, If muslims want to fly have them fly on a magic carpet or take a camel.