SALDEF welcomes new procedure affecting millions of travelers Washington D.C. – May 5, 2008: Last week, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation’s oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization, welcomed the announcement of a new program by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) designed to ensure that innocent airline passengers are not mistaken for individuals on government watch lists due to similar names. A number of travelers have been falsely identified to be on a watch list and required to check-in at the ticket counter, facing increased delays and questioning before being permitted to continue the check-in process. As a result of intense lobbying by national organizations including SALDEF, DHS implemented the Travelers Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) to allow passengers an avenue to clear their name from these lists. Unfortunately, these lists are often not feeding information to the airline’s airport self check-in kiosks. While the Muslim and Arab American communities have suffered the greatest over similar sounding and spelled names, SALDEF has been involved with over 25 cases involving Sikh Americans who had to endure additional security checks. “I realized that my name was on some government watch list when I was on a recent family vacation in Canada”, said a SALDEF member from Maryland, who found that he was in fact one such Sikh passenger. “It took 2 hours to prove that I was not the individual on the list. I welcome the opportunity to provide information to airlines to ensure a smooth and safe traveling experience.” Unfortunately, affected passengers must provide the data to each airline they use, potentially a cumbersome task for infrequent or international fliers. This new program is expected to be in effect until TSA’s Secure Flight Program is initiated in early 2009.
