Ron Paul aide detained in airport, prompts TSA rules change
SOUTHERN ARIZONA – An aide to Ron Paul was detained and questioned in March by Transportation Security Administration screeners in St. Louis for nearly 30 minutes about why he was carrying around $4700 in cash and checks, prompting the TSA to modify its rules regarding detaining and questioning air passengers.
The new rules forbid TSA agents from questioning passengers on matters unrelated to the potential safety of others on an aircraft. Carrying around large sums of money does not quality under the provisions of the new rules.
“… screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security,” the new regulation states.
The TSA rule change has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to drop a lawsuit on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt, Paul’s aide. “We had been hearing of so many reports of TSA screeners engaging in wide-ranging fishing expeditions for illegal activities,” said a lawyer for the ACLU.
“Bierfeldt repeatedly asked the agents to explain the scope of their authority to detain and interrogate him and received no explanation. Instead, the agents escalated the threatening tone of their questions and ultimately told Bierfeldt that he was being placed under arrest. Bierfeldt recorded audio of the incident with his iPhone,” the ACLU wrote in a statement.
“In the lawsuit, Bierfeldt and the ACLU sought a court order requiring the TSA to bring its search policies into line with constitutional requirements for passenger privacy, arguing that passengers moving through pre-flight screening can only be subject to searches aimed at keeping weapons and explosives off airplanes. Bierfeldt’s experience proved that TSA searches had taken on a much broader scope.”
“TSA routinely assesses its policies and screening procedures to ensure the highest levels of security nationwide,” a spokeswoman for the TSA said. “Currency alone is not a threat, and TSA does not restrict the amount of currency a traveler may carry through the checkpoint.”
Mr. Bierfeldt had the money in a metal box and was carrying it through as part of his duties with Ron Paul’s “Campaign for Liberty” organization that fights for “American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity.”
Source: Small Gov Times
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