Agents for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency are facing scrutiny over their actions at airports.
According to a report by InvestigateTV, agents were seen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport momentarily detaining passengers and searching their carry-ons for cash – all without a warrant and without making an arrest.
“He just approached me, and he asked me for my ID,” film director Tabari Sturdivant said. “He didn’t state who he was. He just asked me for ID, and I thought he was a Delta agent. He had airport credentials on, and so I gave it to him immediately.”
The incident happened last year and happened to be videotaped by a fellow passenger.
He was asked "Are you high? Have you smoked? Do you have any drugs in this bag? Do you have any money?" The film director was let go and able to make his flight but there were similar cases in which money was seized.
Actor Jean Elie said the same thing happened to him in 2020. He was even asked if he had ever been arrested before.
A lawsuit, which has since been dismissed because the statute of limitations ran out, found that nearly 70 percent of the people who were stopped and had their luggage searched were people of color.
DEA agents can often seize millions of dollars in drugs at airports, but it is rare to find contraband on outgoing flights from Atlanta according to local police and federal documents. Quite often they find sizable amounts of money, but it is hard to prove it is drug-related when no drugs are found.
The passengers who were searched were let go, but they forfeited their cash.
People have 45 days to file a claim against the U.S. government for seizing their money. The burden of proof is on the government to prove that the passengers were involved in drug trafficking but that can take time and doesn’t immediately help because the money is not returned until the outcome of the claim is resolved.
But this is not a scam, federal officials say. Operation Jetway is conducted at airports across the nation. However, the Department of Justice is concerned that there are few follow-up investigations, and it creates the impression that agents are just seizing the cash.
Officials are also quick to note, however, that Atlanta to Los Angeles is a known drug trafficking route and the intent of the program is to deprive drug traffickers of their cash.
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