Latinos Pegged As “Suspicious” At Airport Security

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

Headed to the airport soon? Try no t to look “Hispanic.”

Apparently some of the trained national security staffers will think you’re suspicious. At least that’s what some Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers revealed in complaints and interviews with TSA officials. The story was reported in the New York Times:

“They just pull aside anyone who they don’t like the way they look — if they are black and have expensive clothes or jewelry, or if they are Hispanic,” said one white officer, who along with four others spoke with The New York Times on the condition of anonymity.

For instance, Latinos traveling to Miami are  suspicious, as are blacks wearing  baseball caps backwards.

The fact that this is racial profiling isn’t in question. What’s important is the reason:

Officers said managers’ demands for high numbers of stops, searches and criminal referrals had led co-workers to target minorities in the belief that those stops were more likely to yield drugs, outstanding arrest warrants or immigration problems.

The practice has become so prevalent, some officers said, that Massachusetts State Police officials have asked why minority members appear to make up an overwhelming number of the cases that the airport refers to them.

It still isn’t known how prevalent or widespread this practice has become. But now, it seems, we have to be weary of “traveling while Latino.”

So what’s the TSA going to do about it?  …start an investigation.

We’ll keep you posted.