CLIFTON, N.J. (AP) — Travel is a hassle for an 8-year-old Cub Scout from New Jersey.
That’s because Mikey Hicks shares the same name of a person who has drawn the suspicion of the Homeland Security Department.
His mother tells The New York Times she sensed trouble when her son was a baby and she couldn’t get a seat for him at a Florida airport. She says airline officials explained his name “was on the list.”
He was patted down as a 2-years-old at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The newspaper says the boy’s name appears to be among 13,500 on the “selectee” list, which sets off a high level of security screening.
Transportation Security Administration spokesman James Fotenos says the agency will cross-check names with birth dates and gender in the coming months.