Illegal Immigrants Again Put on the 'SPOT' at Dulles
News & Happenings
June 11, 2007
During a recent afternoon travel rush at Washington Dulles International Airport behavior detection officers (BDOs), using TSA's Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT), identified five men in the security screening queue who appeared to be together and whose behavior struck the officers as suspicious.
As the BDOs performed additional screening, at least one form of identification presented by the group appeared to be fraudulent. TSA immediately notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department, which quickly arrived at the checkpoint.
Subsequent questioning revealed that all five passengers had entered the U.S. illegally and possessed likely-fraudulent identification. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Office at Dulles was alerted and took the five into custody. Four of the five individuals had previously been deported, and had re-entered the U.S. illegally a second time. One of the men was detained by airport police and released to CBP under an outstanding federal warrant for another immigration violation.
All five men remain in CBP custody pending hearings on their removal from the U.S.
The Screening Passengers by Observation Technique program is utilized to identify individuals who exhibit behaviors that indicate high levels of stress, fear or deception, and serves as a non-intrusive means of identifying potentially high-risk individuals.
