Campaign for Liberty Worker Detained and Questioned: recording made public
April 6, 2009
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Dear Friend of Liberty,
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Campaign for Liberty’s very own Steve Bierfeldt has become an unexpected Internet sensation — and the latest target of over-reaching federal government agents.
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You see, Steve was detained by Airport Police and TSA officials shortly after the Campaign for Liberty regional conference in St. Louis.
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The officials rudely berated and harassed Steve for 30 minutes in a secluded room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Fortunately, Steve was able to record nearly all of the interrogation with his cell phone.
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Steve’s alleged “crime”? Carrying $4,700 in checks and cash from Campaign for Liberty, along with various other materials from our conference.
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The local and Federal agents harassed Steve. They were belligerent, cursing and using insulting language. They threatened to turn Steve over to the DEA and the FBI, all the while refusing to inform him of his legal rights or explain how cash and checks threatened airplane or airport security.
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Throughout the interrogation, Steve remained polite but resolute and declined to answer the invasive questions without an adequate explanation from these federal and local agents as to why they needed to be answered. Without telling Steve what law he was accused of breaking, they continued their harassment.
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Although they grew increasingly frustrated that he remained committed to exercising his rights, intervention from another officer eventually led the police to reluctantly release Steve.
Last Wednesday, Steve appeared on Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch to discuss the flagrant violation of his rights and to promote the importance of each of us defending our civil liberties.
Now, Steve’s appearance on Freedom Watch – which features several minutes of the audio tape – has gone viral.
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Click here to watch the segment [links below], which has become one of the most viewed videos on YouTube.
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Steve’s ordeal is a reminder to all patriots that liberty is constantly under fire, and we must remain vigilant and prepared to stand up for our rights.
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In Liberty,
John Tate
President, Campaign for Liberty
Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Is a computer the modern equivalent of your “papers”? You can’t be searched and your effects seized unless there is a warrant with probable cause. Do I understand this right?
I really liked this following entry from the Donklephant Blog:
http://donklephant.com/2009/04/03/tsa-responds-to-ron-paul-supporter-cash-incident/
Definitely worth a read.
I, for one, do not like my possessions being rifled through at the airport. I have considered not flying any more.
Frankly, I am far more worried about drunk drivers than I am about terrorists. It seems that communal effort (ie tax money) would be better spent on solving more egregious problems first. Last I checked at least 15,000 people are killed annually by drunk driving. The fact that other problems are not more publicized is a clue as to how it really works.
Comment
In regards to the most recent liberty post: I don’t think this is a systematic attempt to take away the rights of Americans. I think this is the people in the TSA being poorly trained, ignorant of the law, and a broad and unreasonable mandate from the dept. of homeland security. While how these two officials acted is terrible and they should be reprimanded, retrained, or suspended for their harrassment when a well trained federal official (FBI) showed up the man was released and allowed to get on his plane.
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What further complicates the issue is that the people one would least like to be in the security industry are the ones most drawn to it. How many of us have interacted with jerk cops or security guards who beleive thier badges give them the right to trample others rights? Sadly, these people are not weeded out and trianing is sorely lacking at the federal, state, county, and city level. This isn’t an attack on our freedoms, rather it is a sad testimony to the poor training and ignorance of our peace officers/security services.
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— Jonathon Howard
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Shawn,
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I really appreciated your most recent series of articles on freedom and the most dangerous man in the world. Those statistics not withstanding, it should be pointed out that it is very easy to prove that no terrorist attacks have happened, it is much more difficult to prove whether or not the huge budget we push into counter terrorism is the cause.
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In affect, the very same numbers used to point out what people die from might in fact be proof that the dollars spent are working. Simply a second opinion if you will.
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I would frankly like to see a collective review of drug laws and antidrug/the war on drugs in the united states. We spend millions, possibly billions depending on how you want to calculate the numbers, fighting a battle against drug use which stems from the 1980s. This while drug usage in the U.S. is up, not down, and while we legally allow our citizens to use tabacho and alcohol every day (and die from both in many cases.)
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To the man who says he doesn’t want his stuff searched while going on the plane, I have to say that a small inconvenience to make sure I don’t crash into a building mid flight is an entirely reasonable price to pay in my view. Sadly, I am in full agreement with those who feel that the search and seizure laws have been trampled lately. One of the few things that I fully support our president having done lately is the disbanding of the Cuban prison we used to get around social and legal pitfalls to do morally reprehencable things.My two cents;)
–MN
MN: Thank you. What I hope to do here is to point things out and hopefully have some readers re-think things taken for granted. The first fact is that at an airport checkpoint you are being searched, and your bags may be searched. The second fact is that this is done without probable cause (there is no reason to suspect you particularly of criminal activity) and without a warrant.
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So I ask you noble reader: are the airport searches against the fourth amendment? Is there a way to get security without giving up rights?
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How about forbidding air travel all together? That would make things 100% secure. Ridiculous? Just putting it out there. Where are your limits? Where would you draw the line?
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You put forth an interesting argument, and possibly very persuasive. Since there have been no terrorist attacks in the last X years, then the efforts must be working. Why then do we never hear about foiled attacks? We hear about the coast guard intercepting ten tons of cocaine.
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Of course it’s a moot point since once government expands in any area it rarely ever contracts. Even if a program is not working it still gets funded.
5 Responses to 'Campaign for Liberty Worker Detained and Questioned: recording made public'
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благодарен!!…
Clarence
22 Aug 14 at 3:12 pm
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спс за инфу!!…
richard
23 Aug 14 at 10:26 pm
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спс за инфу!…
Brian
26 Aug 14 at 9:38 am
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áëàãîäàðåí!!…
Ricardo
18 Nov 14 at 2:25 am
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áëàãîäàðþ….
matthew
24 Nov 14 at 3:52 am