*Law enforcement at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport regularly seizes cash from passengers without an explanation, and getting that money back can be a long and arduous process.
In a Channel 2 consumer report, Brian Moore Jr. told investigator Justin Gray that he had about $8,500 in cash while flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles to shoot a music video, but the money was seized by seemingly crooked police.
Jerry Johnson was heading from Charlotte to Phoenix with $39,500 cash to buy a truck at auction when DEA agents snatched his money with no explanation.
“There’s nothing different than being robbed. Somebody’s come up with a gun and take your money and then walk off,” Johnson said.
The cash seizures are allegedly part of the city’s plan to crack down on drug smuggling.
We reported previously that the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia is accused of using the jet bridge interdiction program between fall 2020 and spring 2021 to conduct unconstitutional searches on (mostly Black) passengers. During an eight-month span, a lawsuit against the department alleges that “out of the 378 stops where the passengers’ race was documented, 56% were Black and 68% were people of color,” Axios reports.
“These seizures do not meaningfully combat drug trafficking, but they do provide a financial windfall for the department by taking advantage of the permissive civil standards for asset forfeitures and the reluctance of individuals (particularly individuals of color) to challenge seizures,” reads the lawsuit filed by comedians Eric André and Clayton English after being racially profiled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Moore said when he was confronted by DEA Agents, they asked if he was carrying guns or drugs. He wasn’t, yet they still treated him like “a terrorist or a criminal,” he said.
“They put my money in a big Ziplock bag, and they told me I was free to go. They were like, ‘You might want to leave or you’re going to miss your flight,’” said Moore, who was not charged with a crime.
“They took my money,” Moore said, never returning it.
According to the reports, the situation with Moore happens daily at airports nationwide.
“They don’t want to prosecute the person. They just want their money,” said Dan Alban, an attorney at the Institute for Justice.
“These law enforcement agencies get to keep the money that they seize. And they view these seizures as a source of revenue,” Alban said.
WSB-TV writes, “… data shows that at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport just one agency, Customs and Border Protection, seized more than $108 million in cash from travelers between 2000 and 2016.”
READ MORE: Comedians Eric André and Clayton English Sue Over Racial Profiling at Airport | Video
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