Democratic Congresswoman Sanchez on "no fly list"

[n2doc]

No-fly list mix-up disrupts California congresswoman's travel
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006


(10-30) 17:47 PST Santa Ana, Calif. (AP) --

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said Monday she was briefly denied access to a United Airlines flight last week because her name appeared on a "no fly list" set up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Sanchez, a Democrat, is favored to win a sixth term representing the 47th Congressional District about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. The district includes many of the 24,000 Arab-Americans who live in Orange County and Sanchez has been a strong critic of the no-fly list.

Sanchez said her staff had booked her a one-way ticket from Boise, Idaho to Cincinnati through Denver. Her staff, however, was prevented from printing her boarding pass online and were also blocked from printing her boarding pass at an airport kiosk.

Sanchez said she was instructed to check in with a United employee, who told her she was on the terrorist watch list. The employee asked her for identification, Sanchez recalled.

"I handed over my congressional ID and he started laughing and said, 'I'm going to need an ID that has your birthday on it,'" Sanchez said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

The employee used Sanchez's birth date to determine that she was not the same Loretta Sanchez listed in the database and she was able to board her flight, she said.

Sanchez said she has not had a problem flying since and believes her name has been removed from the list — unlike some of her constituents.

"When they want to, TSA can make sure that you don't have that identification problem," she said. "Sometimes it's taken us months to get these people off the lists so they can travel in a normal way. I can't have to worry about that."

Sanchez said she has fought to get some of her constituents' names off the no-fly list and it has taken up to six months.

"Imagine if, instead of taking an hour at the airport, you had to take two or three or four hours every time? Why is it such a big deal to get someone off the list?" she said.

more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/10/30/state/n174752S39.DTL

[texasleo]

1. Loretta Sanchez is like Jane Smith in the mooselimb world.