TSA agents were sometimes permitted to keep a percentage of travelers’ cash they helped seize

TSA has stripped more than 10,000 travelers of their money since 2014, but the supposed “criminals” are almost never charged after their cash is taken.

A class-action federal court case could finally end this outrage.

“TSA has secret policies that tell its screeners that they must seize travelers’ cash,” Dan Alban, the lawyer leading a nationwide class-action suit against the agency, tells me. Alban is with the Institute for Justice, which is fighting to stop airport checkpoints from being Constitution-free zones.

But traveling inside America with hefty amounts of cash is perfectly legal. That doesn’t stop TSA from plundering passengers on any and every BS pretext.

In August 2019, 57-year-old Brown was flying out of Pittsburgh International Airport carrying her father’s life savings — $82,373 — which he wanted her to deposit in a joint bank account near her Boston home.

A TSA agent noticed the Tupperware loaded with the cash while scanning Brown’s luggage and summoned a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who speedily announced he was seizing the money.

There was never any allegation Brown came by the money illegally.

After the media publicized a lawsuit challenging the seizure, the TSA returned the money seven months later.

Until recently, TSA seizure efforts partnered with the Drug Enforcement Agency, whose asset-forfeiture program’s unofficial motto is “You make it, we’ll take it.”

The government doesn’t have to prove the person is guilty. Instead, the feds simply take the cash, and private citizens must engage in a long, expensive fight to attempt to get their money back.

TSA condemns travelers for concealing money even though more than 500 TSA agents have been fired for robbing passengers.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/17/opinion/a-class-action-lawsuit-seeks-to-stop-tsa-from-unlawfully-seizing-flyers-cash/