Plainclothes drug agents search innocent passengers at airport gates across the United States, looking for cash.

The drug agents seize anything over $5,000 if the passenger can’t prove — on the spot — that their own money didn’t come from drug trafficking. The government seizes the cash when no drugs are found, without arresting the traveler or charging them with a crime. The DEA gets to keep the money it seizes.

Our ongoing investigation revealed that passengers selected for what the government calls “random, consensual encounters” are actually profiled by the drug agents who search Black men far more often than any other group of passengers.

We analyzed data showing that, for drug agents to find just one passenger with money, they have to publicly search 10 departing passengers. Some of those profiled passengers are left deeply scarred by the process, even when nothing is seized.

Read our full series here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/page/in-plane-sight/