The Brownsville Herald reported Monday that state Sen.-elect Juan “Chuy– Hinojosa was stopped from boarding a Sunday afternoon flight to Austin from Harlingen’s Valley International Airport when he refused to remove his shoes and belt for security guards. Hinojosa had already been stopped and searched at the check-in counter and again in the metal detector line before he attempted to board the airplane and was stopped once again. “I know that national security is important, but this was ridiculous,” said Hinojosa, chairman of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. “To be pulled aside on three separate occasions to have my bags checked and be bodily searched borders on harassment. I complied at each stage, but I did not see why I should take my shoes off after the guard’s wand never went off once. I was in the Marines in Vietnam and if I had needed to search the same person three times I’d have been in real trouble.”
John Clabes, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman, said security arrangements at the Harlingen airport are handled by a private security firm. “This would seem a very unfortunate incident,” Clabes told the Herald. “It does not seem appropriate to be searched three times, though I have never heard of this happening before. I can confirm that security staff at Harlingen will eventually be directly hired by the TSA and we will be able to set uniform national standards.”
Hinojosa missed a Capitol meeting because of the incident, and says in the future he intends to drive from the Valley to Austin (where he says he experienced a similar incident at ABIA earlier this year) because flying has become “too much hassle.”
This article appears in July 26 • 2002.
