A YouTube video of a TSA agent giving a 6-year-old girl a pat down is sparking outrage and causing some to question the use of full body pat downs on young children. INSIDE EDITION reports.
A 6-year-old girl was given a full body pat down by TSA agents right in front of her mother. In a video posted on YouTube, the agent begins to touch her all over and the little girl is confused and embarrassed. The agent even puts her hand down the girl's waistband.
"Stand right here where mommy's at. Put your arms out," said the TSA agent.
"I don't want to do it, thank you!" responded the girl.
"Your sensitive areas, I'm going to touch with the back of my hand," said the agent.
"I want to be excused!" said the girl.
It happened at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. The video shows the same agent explaining to the girl's mother that the child must be searched. You can hear the child off camera objecting.
"I don't want to get my clothes!" said the girl.
The video has set off a firestorm over why a 6-year-old had to be patted down in this way. INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent spoke to flyersrights.org founder Kate Hanni.
"It's callous disregard for the mental and physical well-being of children, what TSA is doing to them now," said Hanni.
In another disturbing video from 2008, agents in Chattanooga patted down a 3-year-old despite her screams.
Intrusive searches at airports prompted a woman to strip down to a bikini to go through security in Los Angeles last year.
It is hard to imagine what agents thought this little girl could have been hiding.
TSA said in a statement: "Terrorists are known to manipulate societal norms. So every traveler must go through checkpoint screening, but children under 12 who require extra screening receive a modified pat down."