Originally published May 5 2011
Former Miss America sexually molested by TSA
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) - The list of privacy concerns created by the Transportation Security Administration grew again last week, this time in the form of an invasive pat down of a former Miss USA title holder.
Ms. Susie Castillo, who won her crown in 2003 and was traveling through the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, said in a cell phone video she made immediately after the incident that she was fondled by a TSA screener during a physical pat down, this after refusing to enter a full body scanner. The visibly upset Castillo said the fondling included repeated touching of her vagina and crotch area.
Such intrusive searches are nothing new. In fact, they are encouraged by the "security" agency. They are part of official TSA pat down procedure policy, adopted in 2010, and have since been defended by the agency's top boss, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Recent abuses include feeling up six-year-old girls and seasoned TSA screeners being charged with distributing child pornography.
As for Castillo, a former MTV VJ, she says in her video, "I'm crying because I'm really upset that as an American, I have to go through this. I do feel violated ... I completely feel violated."
She went into further detail about the grope on her blog:
"What bothered me most was when she ran the back of her hands down my behind, felt around my breasts, and even came in contact with my vagina! Honestly, I was in shock, especially since the woman at LAX never actually touched me there. The TSA employee at DFW touched private area 4 times, going up both legs from behind and from the front, each time touching me there. Was I at my gynecologist's office? No! This was crazy!"
Castillo said she filled out a TSA complaint card over the incident, but based on the TSA's responsiveness to such complaints so far, she's likely out of luck.
That is, unless Congress finally steps up and intervenes. A national bipartisan caucus, called "United States for Travel Freedom," has emerged to address the ever-growing list of TSA abuses. That's a good first step, but it's only a first step.
If it's not a full-body scanner being used to perform a "digital strip search" of U.S. passengers, it's the wandering hands of screeners. Either way, privacy rights are suffering, and the abuses are becoming more numerous.
If we can't figure out how to search for terrorists without violating the rights of our own citizens, haven't the terrorists won?
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