A white mother on Southwest Airlines was caught by surprise when boarding the aircraft in San Jose, California. Mary MacCarthy said she was accused of being involved in human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter, CBS News reports.
Mary and her 10-year-old daughter, Moira, were headed to a funeral in Denver, Colorado, when they were questioned by the city’s police on Oct. 22.
“Southwest Airlines called into Denver police at Denver airport a suspicion of human trafficking involving my daughter and myself as passengers,” Mary said.
The mother said she booked last-minute tickets for her and her daughter and had requested that her daughter sit next to her, but the flight attendants did not accommodate her request.
After their removal from the plane, Mary and her daughter were detained by a Southwest gate agent accompanied by two police officers.
Based on a police report that she obtained, a flight attendant from Southwest communicated with those in authority, hinting that the mother was involved in human trafficking.
“They claim we boarded the flight suspiciously late," Mary said. "We allegedly didn’t speak to each other during the flight and I allegedly forbade the flight crew from speaking to my daughter. None of those claims are true.”
The mother said she believes she was subjected to harassment and racial profiling from the airline because her daughter is biracial. MacCarthy wants Southwest Airlines to be liable for the distress the incident caused.
“We had been profiled for being a white mother with a biracial Black child,” MacCarthy said. “I know if I had a daughter that was blond we would not have to go through this trauma.”
Southwest Airlines issued a statement on the incident.
“We were disheartened to learn of this mother’s account when traveling with her daughter. We are conducting a review of the situation internally, and we will be reaching out to the Customer to address her concerns and offer our apologies for her experience traveling with us. Our Employees undergo robust training on Human Trafficking. Above all, Southwest Airlines prides itself on providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for the millions of customers who travel with us each year,” the company said in a statement.
A similar incident took place on Frontier Airlines after a Black woman was questioned as to why she was traveling with her white adoptive sister. The woman was also in Denver, as Blavity previously reported.
As of now, MacCarthy hasn’t received direct communication from the airlines in response to the ordeal.
Human trafficking is a sexually exploitative crime that affects women, children and men. According to DoSomething.org, sex trafficking brings in about $150 billion annually across the globe. Women and girls account for 71%, while men and boys make up 29%.
