A recent scathing article by the Free Thought Project attacks the Drug Enforcement Agency like few before it. They show how the DEA has stolen millions in cash from air travelers with little to no evidence the passengers had committed any crime whatsoever.

Worse than that, the DEA almost never returns any of the money they’ve stolen, even if they don’t end up charging the suspect with a crime.

USA Today studied the DEA’s airport operations, and though information was difficult to obtain — due, in large part, to the rarity cash seizures led to arrests or even detainments by agents — it’s clear the agency has reaped an astonishing profit by regularly mining the travel records of millions of people.

The report goes on to mention that the DEA has stolen over $209 million in cash from at least 5,200 travelers at 15 airports over the last 10 years.

The article continued:

And as the horribly failed and altogether farcically-premised drug war labors forward — reaffirmed by today’s announcement from the DEA it has no intent to reschedule cannabis from its position alongside cocaine and heroin as a dangerous substance with no medical value — Americans can expect the government’s legalized robbery scam to continue unabated.

Any discussion about government agents stealing American traveler’s cash wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the TSA – an agency that’s been sued for harassing Americans for traveling with cash.

Your cash isn’t the only thing TSA agents want, either. And we’re not talking about their well-known desire to take your water bottles, fingernail clippers, or baby formula. We’re talking about watches, iPhones, iPads, cameras, gold rings, and yes, cash, too.

As travelers are on their way through the airport TSA checkpoint to get to their flights, klepto-TSA agents have the benefit of looking through your checked luggage with X-ray scanners, many times while not within the range of any surveillance cameras. This gives the thieves free reign to reach into checked luggage and take whatever they want.

From 2010-2014, nearly 82% of the total items that airline passengers reported stolen were from checked luggage, where the TSA has almost complete privacy to go through passenger luggage.

From 2002-2015, 513 TSA employees have been fired for theft.

Former agents have described the TSA’s ‘culture of theft’ and their burning desire to steal from air travelers.

It’s so well-known that TSA employees steal from air travelers that several websites have offered tips on how to help prevent the TSA (or anybody else) from stealing their belongings.

Some have suggested that traveling by train is a good way around the federal government’s need to steal American’s property. However, consider that Amtrak – a quasi-private corporation that has received $45 billion in taxpayer subsides over the last 44 years just to stay in business – has been cooperating with the feds for at least 16 years. Now the TSA’s all aboard.

Years ago, the TSA administratively expanded its jurisdiction to far beyond just our airports. As an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, TSA officers conduct searches and screenings at train stations, ferry terminals, subways, and others mass transit hubs around the United States: “In fact, as the Los Angeles Times has detailed, [DHS Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response] teams conducted 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year alone,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN) writes.

Many of my constituents discovered this first hand this past fall as those familiar blue uniforms and badges appeared on Tennessee highways. In October Tennessee became the first state to conduct a statewide Department of Homeland Security Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response team operation which randomly inspected Tennessee truck drivers and cars.

This year even saw TSA officers enlisted to help the Secret Service in searching Americans at presidential campaign rallies.

Adding fuel to the fire, if any person – American or not – is within 100 miles of any American border, the Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection can violate, and has violated, the rights of Americans under the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, even if you’re a journalist for the Wall Street Journal or if you’re a Christian pastor. This is also know as the “Constitution-Free Zone”. Two thirds of Americans live in this zone. Check out this map to see if you’re one of them.

Stories like these should make us all wonder: Does the federal government actually want Americans and foreign tourists to even travel in America at all?

Of course, when New Hampshire becomes free and independent, residents won’t have to ask these questions. A peaceful separation will have many benefits – including safe travels.

If you want that day to come sooner rather than later, please consider our suggestions on our Get Involved page. Thank you for your support!