Muslim TSA Officer Frisks Nun at Airport-Truth! & Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A photo showing a Muslim TSA agent with a head covering frisking a nun at an airport has sparked comments like “Only in Obama’s America” and “Only in Hillary’s America.”
The Truth:
This photo of a TSA agent wearing a hijab frisking a nun at the airport is real.
But claims that the picture summarizes President Obama’s or Hillary Clinton’s policies or principles when it comes to Muslims or religion in general don’t check out.
The photo was taken in 2007, while President George W. Bush was in office.
A private photographer named Chris Davis took the photo in 2007 Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Davis posted the photo on his Flickr account with the caption:
This was captured as I collected my things from airport security (Detroit Metro Concourse A). I think of it as something like a Rorschach test. Is an elderly Catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim security agent the celebration of blind justice? Or is it simply an admission of absurdity?
The photo didn’t gain much attention at the time. However, Drudge Report featured the photo on its website in 2010 under the headline, “The Terrorists Have Won.” Since then, it’s resurfaced from time to time over the course of Obama’s presidency.
And the idea that an elderly nun would be stopped and frisked by a TSA officer at an airport check point has sparked plenty of outrage online — but there’s another side the story.
First, anyone wearing bagging clothes faces extra scrutiny and screening at airport checkpoints because baggy clothes makes it easier to conceal things. Travel experts have said as much going as far back as 2010.
Second, it wouldn’t be smart to make it known that anybody dressed as a nun won’t face screening at an airport. That would signal that anyone woman — even terrorists — could simply dress as nuns and breeze through security check points.
So, this is a real photo that was taken at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in 2007. Attempts to tie the photo to Obama or Clinton policies, however, don’t add up.
Beside that, the idea that anyone dressed as a nun shouldn’t be screened at airport checkpoints is also faulty logic.