Newsday – 8/24/2006

The ACLU and other groups are attacking the profiling by Homeland Security officers at Kennedy Airport in New York City of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian passengers.

The ACLU and other groups held a news conference in the Manhattan office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to condemn what they say has been an increase in racial profiling at Kennedy airport since a London plot to bomb jet planes in flight was uncovered earlier in August. The ACLU said it would investigate complaints. It also criticized New York Congressman Peter King for supporting “profiling.”

In response, Rep. King noted, “What I’m saying, though, is that screeners have the right to ask additional questions of a person who belongs to a particular ethnic or religious group if members of that group have threatened the United States.” King said he was speaking on the basis that the “next terrorist” will probably come from places like the Middle East or South Asia.