Sikhs warned of more screening of turbans at US airports

Sikhs warned of more screening of turbans at US airports

Washington, January 14
Already peeved by security pat downs, Sikhs in the US have been warned that they could now face 100 per cent screening of their turbans at American airports as the new imaging technology cannot see through their 'pagris'.

In a mass email alert to the community members, Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group, told them that they should be ready for additional screening at all the airports. "Sikhs should now expect to be secondarily screened 100 per cent of the time at American airports, even after passing through so-called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines," it said.

Although the Transport and Security Administration (TSA) publicly asserts on its website that its newest machines can see through "layers of clothing", the TSA has made clear in both word and practice that such machines are not powerful enough to see through Sikh turbans. — PTI

This is certainly bad news for Sikh travellers to USA.

Could someone post their experiences while travelling through the US? Do you have to remove Dastaars during security checks?

Kulbir Singh

When I was travelling from LA back to Vancouver I was only required to go through the machine, but they did not touch my dastaar at all.

I think the experience varies from airport to airport, and from security agent to agent.

Many sardars were told to remove their dastars when traveling to England from India.

i had to vadhaa my dastaar when flying from seattle to san jose

sad news!

daas,
khalsaji.