The Feds' Post-9/11 Purge of Airport Workers

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“Saudi Arabia just attacked the US. So, let’s attack Iraq and put all Latin airport workers in prison.”

Operation Tarmac

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the federal government feared that people would lose faith in the government’s promise to protect them. The feds had dismally failed to stop the 19 hijackers who took down four planes and sowed panic from coast to coast. So the government did what it does best: Round up the usual suspects.

Starting in late 2001, the government carried out a series of mass arrests of airport workers.

“Operation Tarmac” and similarly named crackdowns spawned press conferences around the nation at which federal attorneys proudly announced roundups of Hispanic immigrants who were portrayed as would-be terrorists.

More than a thousand airport employees were arrested and indicted nationwide.

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