Department of Homeland Stupidity

Karthik Arumugham, a family friend, was detained and interrogated by DHS on Saturday night, Dec 2, at the Orlando airport. He was supposed to be flying to Frankfurt; instead, he was removed from a plane by Department of Homeland Security officials and interrogated for over an hour. He was warned by DHS officials not to write about his experience or to post it on any message boards, which is a clear violation of first amendment rights. So his family is asking that everyone help him do it.

In this process, he missed his connecting flight, and the airline would not put him on the next flight, and his computer and hard drive and cell phone were searched. He was never offered a lawyer at any point in the questioning.

Of particular interest to them was an email his sister sent to their parents saying she wanted to visit the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. It happens to be in Oklahoma City, which is a few hours drive from where their parents live. She was a gymnast from the age of 3-16 and has taught and coached gymnastics since then. She is a dancer who often travels abroad and loves watching gymnastics almost as passionately as dance.

Karthik is in the process of documenting exactly what happened, and they are filing a complaint with DHS. They're also trying to publicize this . . . . .