Ossoff launches inquiry into unprompted searches at Atlanta airport

Senator concerned over airport searches

Sen. Jon Ossoff wants the feds to look into reports that travelers of color are unfairly targeted by DEA agents at Hartsfield-Jackson.

ATLANTA - A Georgia congressman is demanding answers about unprompted searches of travelers at the Atlanta airport.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff wants the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration to look into reports that Black travelers are being profiled by agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

In his letter, Ossoff said that he was "particularly concerned" over the use of "cold-consent encounters" that may be disproportionally targeting travelers of color.

These searches are a type of stop in which a DEA agent is supposed to ask for consent before searching someone the agent deems suspicious - often for suspected drug trafficking. They often happen after travelers have passed through airport security and are planning to board their flights.

"Recent reporting suggests that DEA and DEA-authorized agents continue to use cold consent encounters in problematic ways in our nation’s airports," Ossoff wrote. "According to reports, Black travelers in Atlanta have repeatedly been pulled aside on the jetway while boarding flights, when they are all but compelled to answer agents’ questions and allow a search of their bags or risk being denied boarding."

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In 2020, comedians Eric Andre and Clayton English said they were picked out of more than 400 passengers on the jet bridge while trying to fly out of Atlanta.

English was stopped while flying from Atlanta, where he lives, to Los Angeles for work on Oct. 30, 2020, according to a lawsuit filed by the two entertainers. André had finished a shoot for HBO’s "The Righteous Gemstones" and was traveling from Charleston, South Carolina, to his home in Los Angeles on April 21, 2020, when he was stopped after a layover in Atlanta.

Officers blocked them as they entered the jet bridge and asked if they were carrying illegal drugs. Both were asked to hand over their boarding passes and identification. An officer said he wanted to search English’s bag, and English agreed, not believing he had a choice.

"They singled me out and asked me if I was selling drugs, transporting drugs, if I had any drugs on me," Andre told FOX 5.

Clayton County police have argued that the stops are random and constitutional.

Searches at other airports

Travelers stand in a long line for security screening at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on June 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Atlanta isn't the only airport mentioned in Ossoff's inquiry. His letter also mentions an incident at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

"In a reported instance also caught on camera, a DEA agent in the Cincinnati airport dismissed a traveler’s express statements that he did not consent to a search, pulling the customer’s baggage off of his flight to be sniffed by a drug-detecting dog and pressuring the traveler into consenting," Ossoff wrote. "According to reports, no illicit substances were found in his bag."

The senator is asking the DEA to share an update with him on the use of cold-consent encounters and what they are doing to implement recommendations by the Office of the Inspector General made in 2015.

Ossoff wants the agency to respond to the request by Dec. 20.