WRAL.com
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Mexican voter registration cards and driver's licenses were all that 11 Mexican nationals needed to board a Southwest flight Tuesday to RDU. Officials with the Transportation Safety Adminstration said those forms of identification are legal for a domestic flight.
Eleven people were removed from a Southwest Airlines flight at RDU International. They were accused of trying to enter the country illegally.
Immigration agent Tom O'Connell said in this day and age, it's a concern that someone could buy a ticket and board a plane with an ID that doesn't even have a date of birth.
"It's troublesome," he said. "There might be some people that are going to harm our country that would be able to board with very limited documentation."
The TSA said it is not its mission to check immigration status. Its purpose is to verify individuals and ensure the security of every plane.
Ron Woodard, of NC Listen, an immigration reform organization, said TSA just cannot ignore undocumented aliens.
"When people break the law, people break the law and we have to be accountable for it," he said.
Posted by Suzanne at April 1, 2005