US suspends controversial asset forfeiture program targeting airline passengers

by Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The deputy U.S. attorney general has suspended the Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial civil asset forfeiture program that targeted unsuspecting airline passengers and exposed them to potentially illegal cash seizures from their bags.

Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz announced in a new report released Thursday that the DEA program had been suspended by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco; This report raised serious concerns about the program and questioned whether some of the searches were conducted legally.

“DEA did not comply with its own policy regarding consensual encounters taking place at public transportation facilities, creating potentially significant operational and legal risks for personnel,” Horowitz wrote in a memo to Monaco and DEA administrator Anne Milgram. he wrote.

Civilian asset seizures have long been a controversial program that critics argue violates people’s constitutional rights against unlawful searches and seizures.

This allows police to search and seize the property of people suspected of committing crimes, even if they have never been charged. Proceeds from the seizure are often split among law enforcement agencies involved in the search, creating what some argue is a perverse financial incentive for federal, state and local police departments.

The property owner can only recover assets if he or she can prove that the seizure was not connected to any criminal activity; This creates a costly and time-consuming legal burden.

Horowitz’s report on Thursday said his office’s ongoing investigation had revealed a number of disturbing facts.

In one such example, a DEA office listed as a confidential source an airline employee who tipped off agents when a passenger purchased a plane ticket within 48 hours of departure.

Using this last-minute purchase as a justification, agents would approach these passengers and try to get them to agree to allow the passengers to search their bags.

In cases where agents conduct searches and seize cash, the confidential source receives a share of the proceeds from the seizure, the report said.

One such search was recorded on video by a passenger and later made public by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending people’s constitutional rights.

The video shows a DEA agent demanding to search the bag of a traveler identified only as “David C” who fell ill on a business trip and had to rebook his flight from Cincinnati, Ohio, to New York. From York to a new time at the last minute.

“Where’s your bag?” A DEA agent is seen asking him questions on camera. “I am the DEA. I am the government.”

In 2020, during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, the Institute for Justice filed a class-action lawsuit against the DEA and the Transportation Security Administration, saying those agencies were illegally seizing cash from passengers without good reason.

This case is still ongoing. The DEA and TSA had no comment Thursday.

Dan Alban, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice and lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said he believed the report “substantiates many of the allegations” in the case.

While he said that the suspension of the program was a welcome development, he warned that unless a permanent legal change was made, the Deputy Attorney General Monaco’s order could be revoked.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Matthew Lewis)