LAWMAKERS SEEK TO PROTECT TRAVELERS

WASHINGTON (AP) Spurred by testimony from two women strip-searched by U.S.
Customs agents, a Georgia congressman is drafting legislation to guarantee
basic rights to international travelers detained at American airports for
drug searches.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said the testimony Thursday by Amanda Buritica of
Port Chester, N.Y., and Janneral Denson of Palm Beach, Fla., reminded him of
his treatment by Mississippi authorities when he was arrested and
strip-searched after the Freedom Rides during the civil rights movement in
1961.

"We no longer live in an America that will tolerate the basic civil
liberties of our citizens being violated by law enforcement officers," he
said. "We have worked too hard and come too far to turn back the clock of
civil rights at our nation's borders."

Ms. Buritica, a Colombian-born U.S. citizen, said she was strip-searched and
forced to take laxatives by agents who suspected her of carrying drugs when
she arrived at San Francisco International Airport in 1994 on a flight from
Hong Kong.

"It was so embarrassing," she said, describing how she was forced to remove
her clothes and get down on her hands and knees. "It was the most
humiliating

thing I have ever had to go through."

Ms. Denson said she was almost seven months pregnant when she arrived at the
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 1997 on a flight from
Jamaica. She said Customs agents strip-searched her, took her to a hospital,
forced her to take a laxative, and shackled her to a bed for two days so
they

could monitor her bowel movements. Eight days later, she said, her son was
born prematurely.

"At this point, we do not know what permanent effects the premature birth
will have on my son," she said. "There is not a waking hour that goes by
that I don't worry about it."

No drugs were found on either woman. A jury awarded Ms. Buritica $450,000
last year in her lawsuit against the Customs Service. Ms. Denson's lawsuit
against the agency is pending.

The two women testified at a House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee
hearing into allegations that Customs officials have been selecting airline
passengers for drug searches based on their race. Ms. Denson is black, and
Ms. Buritica is Hispanic.

Lewis said 43 percent of those stopped by Customs in 1998 were black or
Hispanic, and black women are 20 times more likely to face body searches
than

white women.

Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly said agency policy prohibits the
selection of search targets on the basis of race, but he conceded that there
might be "a mindset" among some agents that leads to racial discrimination.

"We have to ferret it out," he said, insisting that racial bias "will not be
tolerated as a Customs Service practice anywhere."

In response to a recent spate of allegations of racial profiling, Kelly
appointed an independent commission last month to review the agency's
policies and practices. He said he has ordered several internal changes,
including requiring that all personal searches be authorized by a
supervisor.

But Kelly said such searches are necessary because drug smugglers are using
all types of people to carry drugs into the country hidden on and inside
their bodies.

Customs officials said 64 percent of the nearly 3,000 pounds of heroin

seized in the U.S. last year was taken from airline passengers, including
640

pounds concealed inside bodies. A kilogram of heroin, or 2.2 pounds, will
bring $200,000 on the street and provide fixes for 40,000 junkies, officials
said.

Lewis said his legislation would require that travelers be given access to

an attorney within 24 hours of being detained, that a magistrate approve any
detention beyond 12 hours, and that Customs inform travelers of both their
rights and search processes and procedures.

He said it also would require Customs to keep annual data on the race and
sex of passengers stopped and searched and provide annual training and
retraining of all inspectors, especially in the area of racial sensitivity.