Turban search for Sikhs at all American airports

Washington: America’s transportation security administration (TSA) officials have informed Sikh groups that the community should now expect turbans to always be searched at US airports, prompting angry reaction from Sikhs.
The Sikh Coalition, United Sikhs, and Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund have decided to oppose it. While procedures which allow Sikhs to pat down their turbans and have their hands swabbed by a TSA screener remain in place, what changed is that turbaned Sikhs must go through an additional hand wand of the turban as an additional screening procedure 100% of the time.
This is even for Sikh travellers who choose to be screened by going through the new advanced imaging technology (AIT) machines.
The AIT machines (or whole body imaging machines) are being placed in airports nationwide over the coming years.
The TSA said that because a turban is “non form-fitting”, it is more capable of concealing dangerous items than other forms of clothing. It said that its new AIT machines cannot see through the folds of a turban to determine if it is concealing a dangerous item, the Sikh organisations said.
08/11/10 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010, Foreign Nov 2010