Baby, 18 months old, ordered off plane at Fort Lauderdale airport
Source: WPBF channel 25
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - EIghteen-month-old Riyanna has been called a lot of things: cute, adorable and now ... a suspected terrorist.
She was called that on Tuesday night at the Ft Lauderdale Airport. She and her parents had just boarded a JetBlue flight when an airline employee approached them and asked them to get off the plane, saying representatives from the Transportation Security Agency wanted to speak to them.
"And I said, 'For what?'" Riyanna's mother told only WPBF 25 News on Wednesday. "And he said, 'Well, it's not you or your husband. Your daughter was flagged as no fly.' I said, 'Excuse me?'"
Rihanna's father was flabbergasted.
"It's absurd," he said. "It made no sense. Why would an 18-month-old child be on a no-fly list?"
Riyanna's parents, who asked not to be identified, said they think they know the answer to that question. They believe they were profiled because they are both of Middle Eastern descent. Riyanna's mother wears a hijab, a traditional head scarf. That's why they have asked to remain anonymous. They said they're concerned about repurcussions. That said, they are both Americans, born and raised in New Jersey, just like their daughter.
Riyanna's parents said once they were taken off the plane, they were met by TSA agents and made to stand in the terminal for about 30 minutes."We were put on display like a circus act because my wife wears a hijab," Riyanna's father said.
Suspected Terrorist Picture
Read more: http://www.wpbf.com/news/south-florida/Baby-18-months-old-ordered-off-plane-at-Fort-Lauderdale-airport/-/8788880/13038550/-/fhxhp7/-/index.html
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)flushed down the toilet in a government sanctioned effort to harass and intimidate ordinary travelers. Would-be troublemakers are, no doubt, laughing their asses off.
Prometheus Bound
(3,489 posts)Bozita
(26,955 posts)braddy
(3,585 posts)18 month olds are so hard to read.
I remember interrogating one once and I asked her, "honey, are you a terrorist?", well let me tell you! Her answer was barely coherent, it was almost gurglely gibberish, I could tell right then that she was barely fluent in speaking our language.
Naturally I turned her over to my superiors.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)hlthe2b
(102,494 posts)Heavens I'm tired of the insanity.
Suji to Seoul
(2,035 posts)elleng
(131,292 posts)thelordofhell
(4,569 posts)AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)Was her name the same as someone who actually needs to be on the list? You have to wonder how anyone can look at this and not immediately realize how ridiculous the situation is. I guess procedure is procedure but someone has to inject common sense at some point.
DontTreadOnMe
(2,442 posts)You didn't see this coming?
In Florida, (I read a report a few day ago that stated something like).. $180M worth of TSA screening equipment, that "we" paid for", is just sitting not being used... SEE.. the TSA doesn't work! And NOW the Republicans are arguing that the government should not be in charge of the TSA, that is should be privatized.
1. First you need to fool the public that we need the TSA, for OUR safety.
2. Then make sure it doesn't work
3. Then hand over a billion dollar "industry" to your friends...
WATCH FOR HOW MANY TSA INCIDENTS WE HAVE IN TE NEXT FEW MONTH WHERE THE STATE HAS A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR!
Response to DontTreadOnMe (Reply #9)
PuraVidaDreamin This message was self-deleted by its author.
Auggie
(31,227 posts)emulatorloo
(44,261 posts)I agree with your position 100%. This is about Republicans busting unions and privatizing airport security so they can enrich their donors.
This is an unpopular thing to say at DU. But you nailed it.
See also this post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=118116
boppers
(16,588 posts)Oh, wait, that already happened.
TalkingDog
(9,001 posts)Any cursory reading of the way other countries handle airport security shows that this kind of bullshit is absolutely unnecessary with as good a success rate and often times better.
So stop propagandizing for them please.
boppers
(16,588 posts)Also not on the list: their siblings, grandparents, children, grandchildren, etc.
If any country had a name pop up as being a passenger on a no fly list, *AND* the passengers in their party were dressed in fundamentalist religious garb, they would be questioned more than if neither were true.
That's a no-brainer.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)There are no children on the list, according to the government.
boppers
(16,588 posts)No children are on the list. There are names on the list that seem similar to other names.
Let me break it down for you. Say a child named Aymin al-Zawaheree got passes for boarding a plane. No exact match, so they would be allowed to board, but might be flagged.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, however, Is an internationally wanted fugitive. Same name, different spelling.
So, somebody might see that the names don't match *exactly*, but want to check anyways, and asked to question the passenger. Turns out the passenger is a child, no problem, lets all move on with life.
At this point, the passengers could point out the obvious, and get back on a plane, and go on with life, or decide they want their 15 minutes of fame, and make a news story out of it, and we can now all make an issue of it on a web forum.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)Everyone involved knew that the "problem" was the child, thus they all knew that there was no problem.
You did a good job at describing the process, but all of that gets taken care of at the ticket counter before the issuing of the boarding passes.
justice1
(795 posts)Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)A person is less likely to die in a terrorist attack on a plane than in an "ordinary" crash.
This is theater designed to turn us into compliant little subjects, and the harassment just gets worse and worse.
When I flew two months after 9/11, they made me take the file off my nail clipper. Like I could actually stab someone with something that has thick, rounded edges?
We can't carry liquids because some idiots in London who didn't even have passports and therefore couldn't have gotten on a plane even DOMESTICALLY in the UK were thinking about making bombs by combining liquids.
We have to take off our shoes because some idiot tried to set his shoes on fire (and was stopped by a fellow passenger).
We have to be scanned or groped because some idiot (whose father had warned that he had terrorist tendencies) tried to detonate his underwear.
We'd better hope that the next step isn't some idiot who sticks a bomb up his ass.
boppers
(16,588 posts)Already been done, though not via an airline flight, it was an Al-Qaeda land assassination attempt. A couple years back.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-5347847.html
Security protocols did not change, however, as there isn't any real solution for this one yet, short of everybody going through full body X-ray (not the lightweight back-scatter kind).
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)plane malfunctions or bad weather.
There are many ways to die, and to get everyone hysterical about terrorism as if there's one behind every tree is just an excuse for authoritarianism.
boppers
(16,588 posts)What is so insanely entitled, disconnected, bizarrely confused, about "Americans", that they are so easily terrified? Is it a form of socialized cowardice? A lack of self reliance?
When did we start being scared of our own shadows, and why?
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)Secure Flight should have prevented the flagging of a toddler. Either it failed or TSA flagged the family for some other reason such as the mother's garb.
Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes program that streamlines the watch list matching process and identifies individuals who may pose a threat to aviation. The Secure Flight Final Rule shifted pre-departure watch list matching responsibilities from individual airlines for domestic flights and from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for international flights to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Secure Flight program. Secure Flight improves the travel experience for all passengers, including those who have been misidentified in the past.
As of November 2010, 100 percent of covered domestic and foreign airlines with flights into, out of, and within the United States are now covered under Secure Flight fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation. Secure Flight continues to work with the airline industry to deploy to airlines implementing new service or adding additional flights covered by the Secure Flight Final Rule.
What information is collected by Secure Flight?
TSA collects the following information, known as Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD), for flights into, out of, and within the United States:
Name (as it appears on the government-issued identification [ID] the passenger plans to use when traveling)
Date of birth
Gender
Redress Number (if applicable)
What is the objective of Secure Flight?
The goals of the program are to:
Identify individuals on the No Fly List and prevent them from boarding an aircraft
Identify individuals on the Selectee and Expanded Selectee List for enhanced screening
Prevents future misidentifications through the integration of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Redress process
Facilitate passenger air travel
Protect individuals' privacyWhat is Secure Flight and what does it do?
lib2DaBone
(8,124 posts)..designed to get the public used to surrendering to illegal search and seizure.
The TSA is part of the total 911 plan (as designed by the Neocons) to promote our economy as a secuity state.
Look for lots of false-flag security incidients between now and election day.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,405 posts)JetBlue blames TSA, TSA blames JetBlue. I hope there is a court case, and someone gets blamed.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)madrchsod
(58,162 posts)usually when i change her diaper.....the smell would clear a plane in no time at all
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Suji to Seoul
(2,035 posts)trumad
(41,692 posts)Three terrorist live with me and each had Diaper Bombs.
Somehow I survived.
BlueIris
(29,135 posts)The Wizard
(12,554 posts)when absolutely necessary. Yet another reason for high speed rail.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)before the post 9-11 morons took over
IDemo
(16,926 posts)4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)If it were to replace airtravel within the US I have no doubt there'd be TSA agents doing the same things at train stations.
marble falls
(57,427 posts)they all were once 18 months old. Catch them young and you've caught them all. Brilliant!
What I wouldn't give to hear W's weaselly little laugh just one more time.
I will be voting for the President believing his second term will finally start fixing this shit. The terrorists blow up their underwear and TSA wear theirs on their heads.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Awesome journalism, yo.
Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)I read about them in Highlights magazine. They replaced Goofus and Gallant.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)They looked like ANY guy in, say, an IT dept, that was of middle eastern descent.
So, maybe they should be profiling people dressed like me (although my severe lack of tan might at least let me get thru un-patted down)
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)run deep in TSA.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)Lewis Black quote but he applied to a 95 year old woman in a wheelchair.
Smilo
(1,944 posts)an explosion........... not pretty.
TSA is pathetic.
frylock
(34,825 posts)explain to us all again how this shit is keeping us safe.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=663292
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Or that it should be used to restrict anyone's civil rights?
24601
(3,966 posts)current administration - unless you saying they have no clue about what's going on in government while Bush pulls the strings from behind the curtain. (I don't buy that for a nano-second.) President Obama became 100% responsible at noon on Jan 20, 2009.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)But the TSA disagreed, telling WPBF this is an airline issue and therefore, it is not investigating. The TSA also said that since Riyanna and her parents were issued boarding passes, that means they had been cleared by the TSA and were definitely not on the no-fly list.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Is the child's name actually on the no-fly list, or not?
We have no way of finding out. And if her name is on it, her parents have no avenue of due process available for getting her name removed from the list.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)there are no children on the no fly list.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)LoisB
(7,249 posts)she had a bomb in those cute little cheeks.
Uncle Joe
(58,506 posts)Thanks for the thread, Ichingcarpenter.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)the TSA, Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, wars based on lies, and all the other bullshit responses this country has has to endure, after having to go through the NATIONAL TRAGEDY of 911. This shit does not remotely resemble how any civilized country would respond to the possibility of terrorism. This farce and blatant waste of taxpayer dollars is a behemoth frankenstein monster left over from the Bush years, and needs to be dismantled and money but back into social programs where it belongs!!
drynberg
(1,648 posts)a bit of responsibility and consequences need to be handed out quite publicly so other TSA goons will see that there is a price to pay for being assholes. So, lots of heat may help them see the light...
Thrill
(19,178 posts)tawadi
(2,110 posts)Why? Why make them stand in the airport another 30 minutes? To embarrass them even more?
rug
(82,333 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,601 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)olddad56
(5,732 posts)appleannie1
(5,074 posts)was TSA. They need to sue the crap out of Jet Blue.
AnnieBW
(10,472 posts)I've heard of kids dropping stink-bombs in their Pampers, but to call them terrorists?