All the men interviewed for this study were at some point informed that they were on a TSA list or that their names were very similar to a name on a TSA list—a circumstance known as a false positive. The Muslim men were not told what list they were on or why, but after conducting the interviews, it became clear they were on the Selectee List, which subjected them to interrogation by TSA agents about their travel. Because they were on this list, several of the men interviewed were subjected to several layers of security checks after they stepped foot in the airport. These men were unable to use the self-check-in kiosk to retrieve their tickets. Instead, they had to get them at the ticket counter, where TSA agents interrogated them about their travel before issuing the tickets. Once they had their tickets, some noticed there were four Ss printed on them. These Ss marked them as those who should be stopped and searched at the security line, where they were often pulled out of the line to have their bodies and bags searched. Additionally, because of the Secure Flight Program, they were sometimes interrogated again and searched at the boarding gate because the flight passenger list had been compared to the Selectee List, marking them for yet another layer of surveillance.

XREF: Connects to broader literature on post-9/11 racial profiling and surveillance of Muslim Americans in air travel.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 171