Will Grigg's Liberty Minute

August 6, 2007

When Stephen Kelsey, a high school student from Atlanta, returned to the US following several weeks playing soccer in Europe, he was arrested at the airport and taken away in handcuffs in front of his family and friends.

Homeland Security officials who ran Kelsey's passport information through a database found an arrest warrant for failure to appear in traffic court. The young man protested that he had already paid the $175 fine, but to no avail: Kelsey spent eight hours in a holding cell with drug addicts before his mother was able to document that the fine had been paid.

This is not just the story of an infuriating clerical error. It also illustrates the seamless web of surveillance being constructed in the name of Homeland Security ? a human inventory control system in which there will literally be nowhere to hide. This incident also demonstrates that what were once local and independent police agencies have been integrated into the Homeland Security monolith.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.