North Carolina mom suing TSA over strip search of transgender teenage daughter

A North Carolina mother has filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over a 2019 incident in which agents allegedly attempted to make her transgender teenage daughter submit to a strip search at the airport. 

Lawyers for Kimberly Erway alleged in the lawsuit that her daughter, Jamii, who was 15 at the time of the incident, had a valid boarding pass when her security screening came up with a “false positive,” according to Raleigh’s News & Observer. 

Erway alleges that the TSA “advised Jamii that she was not free to leave until she submitted to such a search, in violation of TSA policy, the Fourth Amendment, and state law rights of Jamii, and the boundaries of civil and decent society.” 

The lawsuit claimed that a police presence followed the TSA’s request for a strip-down search, which allegedly triggered the teenager’s “panic, anxiety, fear, racing heart, shortness of breath.” 

“Jamii would like to be able to fly again,” the legal complaint says, according to the local news outlet. “An order from the Court that would ensure that Jamii would never encounter the situation described would assist in reducing the recurring emotional distress that currently prevents her from doing so.”

Erway’s lawyers wrote that instead of complying with the test and getting on the flight, she and her daughter rented a car and drove 600 miles to Rochester, N.Y., where they lived at the time. 

The TSA declined to comment to The Hill, explaining that it does not speak publicly on pending litigation. 

On its website, the agency provides transgender passengers with specific details on the airport screening process, including that in imaging technology scanners used on some people, a TSA officer “presses a button designating a gender (male/female) based on how you present yourself.” 

“The machine has software that looks at the anatomy of men and women differently,” the guidance says. “The equipment conducts a scan and indicates areas on the body warranting further inspection if necessary.” 

“If there is an alarm, TSA officers are trained to clear the alarm, not the individual,” the information adds. “Additional screening is conducted to determine whether a prohibited item is present.”

According to the TSA, if an alarm goes off during a screening, a person may be required to “undergo a pat-down procedure” by “an officer of the same gender as you present yourself.” 

“Screening can be conducted in a private screening area with a witness or companion of the traveler’s choosing,” it adds.