U.S. DOJ suspends controversial airport search program after InvestigateTV reporting
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- The Office of the Inspector General found some passengers searched after DEA agents were tipped off by paid informants working for airlines and the TSA
It's extremely disturbing that no one saw this as just plain thievery.
They all knew this was thievery but they faced zero consequences, so they kept on doing it. This may not be going on at airport gates, but don’t worry, civil asset forfeiture is alive and well. There are a bunch of UA-cam videos showing cops stealing life savings from innocent drivers. It is incredibly difficult to get it back.
They did, that's why they did it
Everyone did that got there 3.2 Billion dollars taken, and they make it so you have no choice
The DEA was charging your cash ( idiots) and not charging the person.
The same way that it’s for some reason magically not murder when healthcare CEOs sign paperwork that is guaranteed to kill people. Apparently, when it’s in the pursuit of safety or in the pursuit of money, it’s legal.
Let’s not forget the racism that doesn’t exist
Is the DOJ going to give back all the money they stole?
Once the Money is taken away you can kiss it Good Bye bye 👋 👋
LOLOLOLOL
Biden could just pardon the dept. Like his son.
@@Ultrajamz Or like Trump did to his traitor son that sold secrets to Saudis.
The DEA you mean? The DOJ stopped the DEA. Wake up.
Arrest these DEA agents and put them in prison.
exactly!!! if you or i did this its called theft. but government alphabet men can do anything they want?
@@unkulwilly DEA is a f**ing joke. Taking hard earned money, but the drug lords are thriving.
Trump is going to delete this agency and rebuild it with people that want to do good for the country.
Disband the DEA, end the drug war.
Feds have complete and total immunity. This has to end.
Victims, please file your law suits against DEA.
Lawsuits cost money
@@Jeremy_Walker not necessarily, most lawyers who do personal injury cases or practice law like this work on a contingency fee, meaning that the attorney doesn’t get paid unless they win the lawsuit. The problem comes when they’re suing the government because of laws that grant certain people government immunity or cap damages at lower amounts due to laws written for that jurisdiction.
Victims will need evidence and most were so scared that they just complied and probably didnt have time to take out their phones. Its quite insane…
@ Fair point.
Lawsuits are FREE, take no time nor effort - it's SO easy _(how stupid are you?)_
That 'confidential source airline employee' might need to be looked into.
"When you buy a last minute ticket, we get alerts." Many of these last minute tickets are purchased by individuals having an emergency situation or a sick/dying family member. You go to the airport, and these clowns are there to violate your rights.
It's about time that the courts recognize that people have a right to be on those flights if they paid for their tickets the way that they have the right to drive from state to state. People flying often times don't have a viable alternative as it can take the better part of a week to get between certain parts of the US via train or driving. If you've got a sick or dying loved one across the country, or a less dramatic thing like vacation, you may not have a viable alternative other than flying. And the Feds regularly take advantage of that to conduct unconstitutional searches.
@SmallSpoonBrigade If you haven't done so already, take a look at civil asset forfeiture. This is something that few know about. Prepare to get upset. It's legalized robbery and being done all over by law enforcement.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeagreed. One of the worst things in America is transportation. Even in Europe it’s easier to fly to completely different countries than it is for an American to travel within the states😂😂😂
@@GSB_KD That's not true.
Not only that, if you are carrying money for the emergency then you are f****. Whole cash gone within secs. Let's say you needed that money for surgery or some legal case. You can't pay it.
Suspend? They should TERMINATE it… forever!
and give back the money they stole and prosecute all the armed robbers involved.
They’ll wait for the recent viral video to blow over and then start it up again.
The original investigation was from 10 years ago, and nothing was done then.
Govt has no motivation to stop itself from making extra money. It would have to be a hard push from the citizens, with mainstream media on board.
They will. They have to get a new law and then it will be ended
They are getting trained during the suspension to rob Americans person better. We will come back stronger
@@EDKKPR they wont. Pigs stick up for each other
To hear, "your trying this legal stuff its not going to work dude".. Bro theres a whole 4th amendment. They quite literally have no RAS, and are violating his rights to commit theft. He should 100% sue.
Your bag is part of your person
@@LatkaBogdanski There is no exception to RAS.....
They have seized innocent foreigners money too...who were traveling back to their countries!
@Вивсівідстій I'm going to venture and say most people here didn't know about 2 dozens exceptions and exceptions to those exceptions. You seem to know all about those exceptions. Why don't you post them up for us or provide links for them since you brought them up?
@@zzzzVIDEOSzzzz I do not believe he can. But even so my comment still stands there is no exception to RAS
IRS should probe and see if that informant claimed all that income on
their taxes.
wouldn't be surprised if the irs was involved somehow and got their "cut"
All these dodgy agencies never have body cams. How much money and goods did these people actually steal?
As much as they want.
And they wonder why the public doesn't trust law enforcement of any kind
Wait, what happened to back the blue...??
More like, back the blue, until it happens to you. Give these thugs power and you won't have to wait long for the abuse to start.
Exactly! This type of false informant bs has been going on for decades. Famous case outside of Texas with a fake grow house busted a PD there and the guy had to leave the country
@@LatkaBogdanskiTSA is law enforcement, reading comprehension.
@@legendofman12 I don’t believe TSA is free from the scrutiny.
@@legendofman12 No the DEA
reading yah reading
ABOLISH QUALIFIED IMMUNITY & END CIVIL FORFEITURE NOW
eff yeah
we just took out chevron deference, those are next
With conservatives in power? Kidding me.
Trump is not going to do that. Neither did any other presidents. Talk to Supreme Court instead
@@kandle54 you need to stop thinking in left and right and start thinking forwards
How about some charges for the officers that did the illegal searches on the passengers?
Absolutely agree. They know the 4th amendment. I guarantee you they have all discussed with each other how they’re violating it.
Not going to happen. It is called qualified immunity. All the agent have to say is:
1. I thought it was legal.
2. There is no case law that clearly explains why this is illegal.
@ 4th amendment makes it clear this is illegal and they have to swear an oath to uphold the constitution.
Accountability is a one-way street when it comes to law enforcement. They get paid vacations for things that would put you or I in prison.
Feds have complete immunity. This has to change.
Wow, Bravo! This is how journalism & elected officials should work in unison!
Welcome to the Patriot Act...
They are suspending it. They didn't say they would stop doing it, and that's the problem.
Because they're not
Suspending = Getting trained to rob Americans better in a more sneaky way
@@jennyjones7370 yep ..... they just name it some other program and wait a few months take vacations move some people around and start right back up the money greases way too many pockets for it to stop suggest never taking cash on a plane
Damn so they’re not stopping. Awesome, now I have a reason to be paranoid at the airport.
@@hunterkline7972just change your name to Hunter Biden 😂🎉
In a 10 year span the DEA collected 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS from airport passengers
Source?
@ Federal Government
Did not collect , but stolen from hard working people.
So wrong crooked people and the nerve of the person calling getting someone caught up in this mess
@ very true, but now we can rest easy, next stop shutting down civil asset forfeiture
Until and unless some folks in the DEA start to feel some legal pain from this (lose their jobs, lose their pension, lose qualified immunity, etc.), this is an incomplete victory. People need to be punished for willfully violating the civil rights of citizens.
they weren't even filling out paperwork, so I'm wondering how much did they "confiscate"?
"legal pain", lol. No. When DEA starts looking like CEO then we know change can happen.
All this means is that they can't do this specific technique anymore. There is no incentive to avoid doing something distinct but similar.
@@M1911jln 100% Accurate Statement.👍
It is punishable up to 'bye bye forever'.
So these agent should be 'bye bye forever'
Thank you for shining a spotlight on this injustice 🤩
Fantastic journalism! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This is real journalism, and I thank these people for looking out for us
The informants and the agents should go to prison. They all knew what they were doing was wrong. The agents even took an oath to defend and uphold the constitution, so they’re also oathbreakers.
And Senator Jon Ossoff ! Incredibly good politician with the citizens interest in mind instead of the corporations ! E-Lawn hates him.
A camera is a wonderful thing. Without this being filmed we would have never known. This is fantastic.
There are moves to make filming police interactions illegal starting with claims it puts police officers at risk of retaliation. My reply; If cops are doing nothing illegal what do they have to fear retaliation from? All too often you see cops come up to people & demand they stop filming & when they don't they try to take the phone/camera under the claim "We need all possible camera angles to look for proof of a crime so your phone is going to be confiscated for possible evidence." Threats & intimidation is only going to get worse & it is no longer just limited to America as police are fighting against them being filmed worldwide. As they say "Nothing to hide why try to stop us searching" Same for us filming.
Never have known
No actually, we would have known. It’s not private, the government literally steals from people whenever they can, and they call it civil asset forfeiture.
This is just a specialized extra powerful version of it where they can search people at the airport because we as a society decided that travelers don’t have as many rights in airports as they would have otherwise.
I am absolutely shocked that they didn't attempt to stop him recording. If you're gonna do an illegal thing, might as well do 2
@@trninfan they learned from the isNOTreal TErrrorist Force. They know they can do what they what with impunity.
"I don't care about your rights stuff." That cop should be in jail or at the very least sued until he can't afford a box of Hot Pockets. Piece of garbage and actually a really good example of why the government CANNOT be trusted to protect you or your rights.
Yes, but you can trust the corporations even less, and sadly, you're fellow citizen is just as untrustworthy, where the heck do you think they find those thieving goons in the first place
Reminds me of a quote: " _Fvck your freedoms_ " *_~Arnold_*
And people wonder why no one respects the government.
Karma has a funny way of coming around
*your
Learn your language.
Best piece of the year by far. If journalists spent time investigating civil right violations commited by government. The world would be a better place for all
STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS AMERICA !!!!!!!!
Let's do away with DEA they lost the war, and let's rethink the situation.
Agreed
The drug war was always about controlling cashflows and locking up minorities. DEA should be disbanded.
The DEA refuses to reclassify marijuana because weed is their sole reason for existence and its their cash cow (as well as law enforcement agencies around the nation).
@@PJWestfieldClassifying should not be the business of the DEA
Make drugs legal.
Look at CA, most homeless people in CA are addicted to drugs.
Those agents also need to be criminally charged. And that money needs to be returned to those innocent people.
The second, yes. The first, no. I'd absolutely agree if they weren't following orders and what was (but should NEVER have been) a legal process. It would be like sending any woman who has ever had an abortion or any doctor who has ever performed one to jail after Dobbs overturned Roe v Wade. Even if you believe what they did was wrong, it was legal at the time.
@@ytadventurer9170interesting take, now do the Nuremberg trials.
@@ytadventurer9170 It was not legal at the time that's the problem...the constitution didn't change.
@@Dremin2009 By definition, a law permitting something makes it 'legal.' The law may be deemed unconstitutional and struck, but for as long as the law lasts, it's still legal, and it's actually unconstitutional to prosecute a person afterwards for illegal acts that were legal when the acts were committed.
So where are the arrests for the plain clothes drug agent?!?!…..The only crimes committed were that of those agents and yet neither arrested the other with a crime in progress….they have a very flawed take on the law…
"Agents" ...LmAo
Exactly, it's armed robbery.
That only applies to airports. Civil forfeiture still goes on across the country. A cut goes to local police. A cut goes to DOJ. It’s part of the war on drugs since 2000. 24 years under republican and democratic administration. Local police budgets are dépendant on civil forfeiture money.
A vet driving across the country with $2000 in cash had it seized by a cop in a traffic stop. The vet had to prove he legally earned it. A non profit legal firm represented him and he got his money back. Lawyers would take the case bc it would have cost more than $2000 to represent him. It’s the reason most people don’t fight it.
@@tyrannyterminator4179 Sure it’s thievery and terrorism, but they’re OUR terrorists - so it’s OK?!
Guarantee he never missed a day of work over any of this, and is continuing on with his huge tax payer paycheck and pension/benefits. Laughing with his buddies now how whatever they’re doing now is easier than harassing and stealing at the airport everyday.
Good on you for your investigative journalism. It's a lost art and thank you for trying to provide both sides of the story.
We appreciate you!
As a retired Federal Investigator (31 years), I'd say that between 25% and 50% of federal employees should not have been hired. I'm not referring to the number hired, although that is important, but to the caliber of the employee. Most mean well, but are not up to snuff. I don't say that lightly or with anger. Instead, it's a very sad situation.
That's in any occupation from teachers to school bus drivers to any occupation we're hiring idiots
You should be angry
Go be a consultant with DOGE to help cut down waste.
@@krayze03 The problem is that it's not waste, they'd still need people to do the work. The problem is that a bunch of the work would be blatantly unconstitutional if we had courts that still cared about such things. The airports are part of the "constitution-free" zone that the courts invented where the usual constitutional protections aren't recognized. It's why they can do things like this.
@@krayze03 Wish it were that easy
DEA paid an airline employee who got kickbacks?
They belong to JAIL.
Thank you 🙏🏽
Great work! Thank you.
Just because someone works for the government doesn’t give them immunity from stealing or harassing law abiding citizens. Each of these agents should absolutely be in jail, paying back the money they stole.
It shouldn't, but with how the courts have been ruling, it effectively is the case. The line for what the agents are expected to know about violating people's lives is absurd. Certain things like illegal searches and seizures are pretty clearly in the constitution. For the courts to continually suggest that those aren't clear rights is just ridiculous. It's things like this which are going to result in a wave of assassinations if people don't think that voting and lawsuits do the job. There's that old saying that we were given several boxes, soap box, ballot box, jury box and ammo box, use in that order.
In theory that's true- Reality is a different matter. They ARE above the law. More so than king George's officers...
Yeah okay let's see what you think when trump gets in again and gets rolling
They SHOULDN"T have immunity, but often they do, if not by law (qualified immunity), then by fact (the blue shield, aka cops don't arrest cops...)
That's "qualified immunity"
That luggage and carry-on bags have been checked by screening and TSA officers so why the hell are they stopping these people at the gate?
For money. They’re not looking for drugs or weapons. They only do this to seize money.
Someone at the screening process made a call to get a kickback, easy money
I get it now. The xray tech sees a wad of cash in scanning process and id’s the person to agent. Free hiway robbery.
Ahh the story as old as time, government abuse of Innocent civilians. And you know the people trashing your rights won't get any punishment, neither will the commanding officers.
Law enforcement* abuse of innocent civilians.
Law enforcement in America is the equivalent of the occupying British troops in the American Colonies.
Now let's do the same with the TSA...
We didn't used to have to do this then along came 9-11 and the world of air travel suddenly changed. We ain't going back to the old days when air travel was a luxury and people wore suits and ties and got fed free food.
What a racket!
The airlines must investigate and fire the agents who have been making money from reporting passengers to the DEA who merely buy last minute tickets. In fact, those affected passengers should sue the airlines.
@@systemsproceed248They talking about agents STEALING money from people they search. Plenty of these victims were probably compliant-as is habit when dealing with airport security.
@@systemsproceed248I don't know if you're being serious or not
@@systemsproceed248 lol thanks for the laugh double digit IQ
@@systemsproceed248 How does that boot taste?
The airline informant should be sued!!!!!
It'd be nice to know which airline the informant/employee was employed by.
not to mentioned, there's probably (or should be) some FAA violation for providing passenger information along to someone else for monetary gain.
All airlines participate in this.
🫡👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Excellent journalism.
I saw this video too and I was outraged.
It was actually worse than that video showed.
Real journalism like this is essential for our country!
Whoever started this program needs to be jailed and all the agents that went along with it. They violated their oath to the Constitution.
they took $750 from me in florida, i was traveling to boston, i told he guy that was was bringing cah for my 79 year old mother and showed in my work badge, etc - he said to file a report
they robbed you of $750, wow, I didnt know they took such small amounts.
Why would you give them the cash? I would’ve told them to fuck off
Why do you bring so much cash on a flight? Why do you have to bring money across state borders?
I'm not from the us but couldn't you just withdraw the money in boston?
It still sounds immoral to take such a small amount without an actual reason other than "it's sus to carry more than 500 bucks man" I mean it is pretty uncommon no questions asked, but unless its 5000 I don't see which such small fry should be drug money
@@Hades_Space_Engineer It doesn't matter the amount you have a right to carry your money!!!!!!!!!!!
@@Hades_Space_Engineerimmoral? Tell me you’re a moron without telling me
Corruption spread everywhere in this country, became worse than in third world countries. Very disturbing.
Meh, its even worse once you see how big our lobbying industry is, which is just the same, if not often worse given how systemic it is. Agencies like the DEA have always skirted the laws along with their pals in the CIA, they learnt from the best. The culture sucks, they lost the war on drugs a long long time ago, they're struggling for reasons to keep their funding at this point. Personally hope we legalise & tax tf out of more drugs, cause we're wasting billions a year anyway. If you really want to hurt the drug cartels & the violence/issues they cause...legalise & tax things like cocaine...which at this point in USA/Europe etc are common drugs no one bats an eyelid at.
Thank you for being a stand up reporter and reporting on our government abusing their power.
Great work standing up for the citizens and I hope all agents get investigated and charged for all wrong doings.
This crap has been going on for years.
But, but the DOJ didn't know about it. 🙄
@ no the DOJ had encouraged this because they got to split the money
Yep, a bit like this story, I've seen this before, 4 - 5 years ago I reckon, just recycled news....
People buy last minute tickets to get to deaths, births, etc all the time. That's horrific.
As in the people least able to fight back or decline the illegal search.
Happened to me. Had to fly urgently because my mom was very sick. Got pulled over by DEA looking for money.
Thank you for being the kind of reporter we need.
You guys are journalistic heros. Thank you for doing more for our freedom than any soldier since 1946.
ty
Whatever happened to innocent before found guilty?
That was never the case, ever.
Since when?
It's a concept that's spoken but NEVER TRIED
Innocent until proven guilty is for people. Civil asset forfeiture gets around that by pressing charges against the objects or money which has no rights, rather than a person. Sound like bullshit? That's because it is.
That’s Been Gone🙄
never has been. we streight up have a prision where we torture people who havent been found guilty. the f-ing governor of Florida was stationed there.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!
How about compensating those wrongfully accused and victimized?!
EVERY agent knew they would resent it being done to them, so they KNEW it was wrong!!
How about prosecuting the guilty agents and all other guilty parties?’
CAPITAL LETTERS!! MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION MARKS!! Did you miss the part where there were no records?
And yet that "officer" gets to just laugh it off?! Really?!
I bet no one faces any consequences for any of this.
Where is the justice? They got caught stealing from people and get to just say "Oh well I guess we will stop robbing you this way."?!?! No reimbursment?!?! No one doing time?!?!
I bet the DEA is still doing it even though it’s suspended.
Their behavior is criminal, and no one will be held accountable. People should go to jail.
Eye for an eye. Sick of them.
"Suspends..." What bs... put everyone who used this and the lawmakers who passed it/allow this in prison.
“Suspended” means it’s coming back in a slightly different form.
Unfortunately, these days that's probably correct.
Quite simply, civil asset forfeiture is a violation of the 4th and 5th Amendments. We need a serious SCOTUS ruling on this.
Key word: SUSPENDS, not “terminate” or “end”.
To do this and think that what you are doing is right and just shows just how jaded these “agents” are.
Unacceptable!!! 😡
This is police breaking the law with impunity! How is the employee not being charged with divulging private information!
Never voluntarily consent to be searched by any police official. Always have an attorney on speed dial and always use you phone to video tape the interaction.
Did u watch this, the guy didn't consent, they still took his bag! Everyone doesn't have a lawyer on speed dial - get real
Unless your in cuffs.
@@rondas7772 and now they're not taking anybody's (like THIS) anymore. This is EXACTLY what you're supposed to do.
Welcome to the "freest" country in the world, not even close.
great journalism, thank you
InvestigateTV, we applaud you!
Holy crap...real journalism
When someone with a gun stops you and takes your money without any proof of wrong doing, I'd call that armed robbery. The fact that they have a badge makes it much worse.
Thank you for reporting on this. We need MORE independent journalism. The big media companies are saturated with retirees from 3 letter agencies and rotted from within.
I'd suggest everyone that was searched to file a lawsuit now
I wanna know more about these 'informants' and why they are still free to walk the streets.
5:33 "the agents appear to have departed" lmfao legendary!
Well done. THIS is what good investigative reporting is meant to be, and meant to achieve. Thank you for helping to safeguard civil liberties by holding the government accountable. We need a lot more of this.
Always glad to see videos that report on corruption. Thank you.
A shakedown. Unbelievable.
Who pays for those crimes? A different type of mafia's.
Crooks with badges
Why haven't the people who are engaging in this activity all been fired and be barred from ever working for the federal government again, they should also lose all their pensions.
At the Nuremberg trials after world war II, many of the officers said we were just following orders. It wasn't accepted then, so why should we accept it now?
Not fired because they were doing their job from the government, it's sickening
Because qualified immunity and civil asset forfeiture is government policy. CAF is widespread but most people don't know about it and a lot will say you are lying when you tell them about it because it sounds so outrageous The fact you talk like it is only federal or at airports proves how few people know about it. It's used by police and state troopers too. CAF is even more infuriating when you look into how it works legally and the "remedies" provided.
Great work exposing this theft.
“Free country”
Infuriating
A victory for the public. Thank you guys! Slowly but surely we will fix this coutry, but we all need to be willing to do the research and stand up for our rights and never fear evil
Well done removing these unwarranted random search at the airport.
TSA needs to be next.
Arrest all the DEA agents part of this program and send them to prison for life without the possibility of parole
Finally, a win for innocent ppl by abusive federal agents. Great reporting by everyone.
And people wonder why they don't trust the government. The DEA should be investigated and returned any seized property, and the airlines who revealed customer information should be fined.
The DEA should be defunded, erased, ...
DEA needs disbanding,
“We wouldn’t have known about it”
Black and brown people have been saying this for YEARS. Especially those going to/from cities with casinos.
Always a victim.. shut up. It happens to white people as well clown..
Stop making everything about race racist!
Shut up with the race thing JFC you are the reason everyone rolls their eyes when race is brought up every time
turning an actual story into a race war, corrupt people come in all colors
I’m peach 🍑 colored and I’m in their list. For 10 years they have a special mark they put on the bottom of the ticket that says I am to be search every single time I fly. Why? I forgot I had a knife in the middle of my purse and had money. Most of that money disappeared magically and they lied to my face saying they didn’t. And then they threatened me to kick me out of the airport and make me miss my flight if I continue to protest.
I saw this video...and it was very disturbing. That is why the freedom of press that we all enjoy is sooo Important. Can you imagine if someone where able to tell him he could not record? We all would still be subject to this violation of our rights now. The freedom to record public officials in the course of their duties in public is crucial and can not be underestimated in effecting change in the country! Bravo!
Every person that was robbed by this should be filing lawsuits
They tried to take my wife's rings off they suck.
Holy shit...are you serious?
@@LibertarianRF yes
@@philipstreechon4523wow
they took 2k from my mom when was trying to visit her sister my aunt to help pay hospital bills. this was decades ago before venmo and paypal, and faster the western union could wire money
wtf 😡
That agent at the beginning had dollar signs in his eyes.