Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughter complained about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after undergoing a pat-down by airport security.
She called TSA “unconstitutional” after she had to go through an “absurdly invasive” pat-down for refusing to go through a body scanner.
Evita Duffy-Alfonso took to X to post against the agency. Duffy-Alfonso, 26, said she waited 15 minutes to complete her mandatory security screening, which almost made her miss her flight.
Highlights
- Sean Duffy’s daughter, Evita Duffy-Alfonso, called TSA ‘unconstitutional’ after an ‘absurdly invasive’ pat-down at airport security.
- Evita criticized TSA agents for being rude and pressuring pregnant women to undergo body scanner radiation despite safety concerns.
- She clarified TSA is under DHS, not the Department of Transportation, and claimed her father would lobby Congress to abolish TSA.
- Evita condemned biometric data collection by private company CLEAR, linking it to loss of freedom and Orwellian surveillance.
- TSA stated all security equipment is safe for pregnant travelers and urged passengers opting out of scanners to arrive early.
Sean Duffy’s daughter complained about going through a pat-down by TSA after refusing a body scanner
Image credits: evitaduffy_1/Instagram
“I’m pregnant and didn’t feel like getting radiation exposure…” she wrote on X. “The agents were passive-aggressive, rude, and tried to pressure me and another pregnant woman into just walking through the scanner because it’s ‘safe.’”
The TSA requires all passengers to go through security screening, and those choosing to opt out of digital scanners are obligated to undergo a physical screening done by an officer of the same sex.
Duffy-Alfonso claimed she was “treated like a terrorist in [her] own country.” She complained she “barely” made her flight. “All this for an unconstitutional agency that isn’t even good at its job,” she wrote.
She added, “The ‘golden age of transportation’ cannot begin until the TSA is gone.”
The TSA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, not under the Department of Transportation. Duffy-Alfonso clarified this when an X user commented on her post, telling her, “Perhaps you should run this by him [Duffy].”
“He isn’t in charge of TSA. TSA is under DHS, which is run by Kristi Noem,” Duffy-Alfonso responded. “If he did have TSA, he’d radically limit it and lobby Congress to abolish it.”
She also criticized CLEAR, the private security company that operates biometric travel document verification systems for some airports, for taking passengers’ “biometric data.”
“Is this freedom?” Duffy-Alfonso said. “Perhaps things would have gone more smoothly if I’d handed over my biometric data to a random private company (CLEAR). Then I could enjoy the special privilege of waiting in a shorter line to be treated like a terrorist in my own country.”
She then mentioned the dystopian author, George Orwell, known for his books on the themes of surveillance and omnipresent monitoring.
“Travel, brought to you by George Orwell—and the privilege of convenience based solely on your willingness to surrender biometric data and submit to radiation exposure?” Duffy-Alfonso continued.
According to the TSA, all airport screening equipment is safe for all travelers, including pregnant individuals. It claims medical detectors do not use X-rays, but instead employ non-ionizing electromagnetic waves that reflect off the body.
Duffy-Alfonso said if her father were in charge of the TSA, ‘he’d lobby Congress to abolish it’
Image credits: John Moore/Getty Images
The TSA has advised people who want to opt out of these scanners to arrive with enough time to get through the security check.
Duffy-Alfonso noted in the comment section of her X post that she arrived at the airport one hour and 10 minutes before her flight, while most airlines recommend arriving at least two hours before departure.
In a statement to The Independent, a TSA spokesperson said, “TSA takes complaints about airport security screening procedures seriously and investigates complaints thoroughly to ensure the correct procedures are applied.”
Image credits: evitaduffy_1/Instagram
Duffy-Alfonso is often vocal about politics. Commenting on Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s push to allow proxy voting for new parents in Congress earlier this year, Duffy-Alfonso called it “unconstitutional” and recommended that new parents resign from Congress if they are “unable to fulfill the duties required of a member of Congress.”
This is not TSA’s first run-in with individuals associated with the MAGA administration. In October, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace had a meltdown at Charleston International Airport after having to wait six minutes to be escorted through her security gate. Officials claimed that she called a TSA employee a “f*****g idiot” and f*****g incompetent.”
Duffy-Alfonso’s husband, Michael Alfonso, is running for the House seat in Wisconsin that her father held from 2011 to 2019.