Its findings merely mirror evidence contained in media accounts, Congressional studies and lawsuits filed against the Customs Service. One lawyer in Chicago is representing over 100 black women who have filed a class action lawsuit against the Customs Service alleging illegal profile searches. One is a teenage girl searched by Customs agents when she returned from Jamaica with her mother and aunt. The girl is black while her mother and aunt are white. Customs officials consistently deny that their agents use skin color as profile evidence of possible drug smuggling.
Customs agents consider hair braids a physical trait of possible drug smugglers.
Although the mounting evidence documenting disproportionate searches of minority travelers does not surprise me, I remain surprised at the refusal to see that these searches are a symptom of a deeper sickness. The real problem is not well intended Customs agents overzealously waging the War on Drugs, as Customs officials' claim. The real problem is racist employment practices within the Customs Service. Beleaguered black Customs employees say top management refuses to address workplace racism, sexual harassment and other abuses that produce the atmosphere propelling the much-criticized profiling of black travelers. Customs officials deny discrimination.