I am a big believer in civil rights and liberties, which is why this particular passenger has made my day.
It would seem that Steve Bierfeldt was given some unnecessary flack for having a metal box with a large sum of cash in it. Of course, it is not illegal to travel intra-continental with large sums of cash, but a group of TSA agents made it their business to get to the bottom of why this individual was carrying $4,700 in his luggage.
They used intimidation to coerce this information from the flier, by taking him into a windowless room and using profanity and threats. He simply asked if he was required by law to answer their question. He never said, "No!" Constitutionally, you must not submit yourself to illegal search and seizure. Nor, does the Constitution give law enforcement the right to intimidate and unlawfully detain individuals to get answers to questions, which subsequently had nothing to do with flight safety. (Isn't that the TSA's mission?)
Fortunately, for all fliers, Mr. Bierfeldt, with the help of the ACLU, has brought a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. On a related point, isn't it time that the Department of Homeland Security was dismantled and abolished? After all, it is just another example of George W. Bush's attempts to force unnecessary government oversight into the lives of law-abiding American citizens. It is a tarnishing behemoth of bureaucracy.
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