Certainly one of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughters stated she skilled an “absurdly invasive” pat-down Thursday at an airport safety checkpoint and instructed her father would restrict or get rid of the Transportation Safety Administration if it was beneath his authority.
Evita Duffy-Alfonso stated on the social platform X that she almost missed her flight after opting out of a physique scan as a result of she stated she is pregnant and anxious about radiation publicity. She stated she waited quarter-hour for a pat-down and that TSA brokers had been “impolite” and “tried to strain” her into strolling by the scanner.
“All this for an unconstitutional company that isn’t even good at its job,” she stated.
TSA stated in a press release Friday it’s conscious of Duffy-Alfonso’s criticism.
“TSA takes complaints about airport safety screening procedures significantly and investigates complaints totally to make sure the proper procedures are utilized,” the company stated.
In one other submit, Duffy-Alfonso stated her father would “radically restrict” or “foyer Congress to abolish” TSA if it was beneath his management.
Duffy’s Division of Transportation controls the Federal Aviation Administration and is charged with setting and implementing security rules for all main modes of transportation, together with air journey. However TSA is a part of the Division of Homeland Safety.
TSA is chargeable for screening passengers, luggage and cargo for weapons or explosives. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults.
“The ‘golden age of transportation’ can’t start till the TSA is gone,” Duffy-Alfonso stated, a reference to her father’s broad marketing campaign to make journey extra household pleasant and revive what he calls “the golden age of journey,” together with a current push encouraging passengers to decorate extra formally whereas flying.
The Transportation Division declined Friday to touch upon Duffy-Alfonso’s complaints about TSA.
In a follow-up submit on X, Duffy-Alfonso clarified that she helps President Donald Trump and Homeland Safety, “however there must be extra widespread sense round how we deal with Individuals exercising their proper to journey,” she stated.
In line with TSA, passengers can request a personal screening as a substitute for the physique scanner. The company warns on its web site that “enough strain should be utilized with a purpose to guarantee detection” as a result of a “pat-down screening is performed to find out whether or not prohibited objects are hid beneath clothes.”
