Posted on 01/17/2002 1:36:13 PM PST by tom paine 2
LOS ANGELES (AP)--The new federal law requiring airport screeners to be U.S. citizens is unconstitutional and discriminatory, a lawsuit filed Thursday charges. Nine screeners who could lose their jobs sued Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and John Magaw, the undersecretary of transportation for security, in federal court. Lawyers called it the first such suit in the U.S.
About 20% of the 28,000 screeners in the United States are not citizens.
The law barring noncitizens also could compromise airport security by eliminating experienced screeners, said Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
Transportation security administration spokesman Hank Price said he couldn't comment on ongoing litigation.
"When I learned about this law, I was deeply hurt," said plaintiff Vicente Crisologo, who has worked at San Francisco International Airport for more than two years. He said legislators should remember "their forefathers were once immigrants, too."
Crisologo, a permanent legal resident, came to the United States from the Philippines about three years ago to be closer to his son and two grandchildren. The former pharmaceutical company sales manager won't be eligible to apply for citizenship for another two years.
The citizenship requirements will be felt keenly at San Francisco airport, where about 80% of its 800 screeners aren't citizens, said Andrew McDonald, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union. At Los Angeles International Airport, an estimated 40% of the 1,000 screeners are non-citizens.
The union represents 2,000 screeners in California and several other states.
*25% are not high school graduates
*20% are not US citizens.
I have a big problem with these imbeciles working on the government payroll.
Er, whose Constitution would that be? And, just how is it "unconstitutional"?
Maybe we should let Castro take charge of our Army...geez
One solution. Become a citizen, many of them have been here long enough to apply.
-PJ
I have a big problem with these imbeciles working on the government payroll.
I'll spot you the non-citizens in your comment, but there are quite a few (read: a LOT of) current and former members of the Armed Forces who never completed high school. If we can issue them automatic weapons and let them operate sophisticated weapons systems, then I see no problem with folks who didn't get a diploma serving as screeners.
But if someone who would raise a flag to most screeners is currently serving as one, well, I'd say we have a problem.
Boycott the airlines...BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
With computers and all, how often do people really need to fly anyways?
BTW, I'm a recluse living in the rockies, and I don't need to fly anywhere, so it's easy for me to talk...
FMCDH
I'd LOVE to be a recluse in the rockies. I envy you, sir (or madam).
I've got nothing against Filipinos, they are decent people for the most part.
But having come through this monstrosity of an airport recently, I must say it is organized like a trip through hell.
You arrive on an international flight on a major U.S. airline, you are forced to deplane, claim your luggage and clear customs and immigration. That's fine, you have arrived in a new country. But I've seen more drug sniffing dogs and better security at little airports with 6 or 8 gates.
Okay, you clear, recheck your luggage to your connecting flight (in my case, the same damn airline and flight number). On the way to your connecting gate, you must leave the secured area and stand in another damn line to clear security again! You've got a connecting flight to catch and your mixed in with the people boarding new flights at this poor excuse for an airport.
You are doubling the lines and the workload for the security people. SFO has, in my opinion, just edged LAX as the worst run airport in the country.
Contrast it to Changi Airport (Singapore)-- one quick trip through a rough metal detector at the entrance (which doesn't pick up things like belt buckles and pocket change)-- you might be stopped and asked a few questions if you look like a towelhead or hippie, but otherwise straight to your boarding gate. Then, novelty of novelties, the main security check is at each individual boarding gate. With an average of 1-2 people in line, it is damn near seamless.
The security people in Singapore are uniformed, fast and efficient. Whether they are citizens or government employees is hard to tell, but if they get more than 3 people in line, the airline staff is drafted on the spot to help them.
Oh, and one other thing. If you try any crap like smuggling bombs, Changi prison is a 5 minute ride away. Hangings are held every Friday as necessary to remind people they're serious. The Straight Times will give the hempen necktie honorees about two column inches each.
If these people DO get jobs without citizenship then the next step will be to allow these people to freaken VOTE!
Is the Senate really going to push a bill to override this?
I think you described the problem right in this sentence. We can't profile people here because of the PC sensitivity nonsense, therefore jeoparadizing us all when Richard Reid is allowed to get on plane.
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