Customs Agent Strands Politically Outspoken Military Dependent in Hawaii; Was He Added to the ‘No Fly List’ for Tea Party Activities?

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Wade Hicks Jr. in Hawaii at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN – Wade Hicks Jr. drove from his home in Gulfport, Mississippi, to the Travis Air Force Base in San Francisco earlier this week to catch a military flight to Japan.

A 34-year old newlywed, he was thrilled because he was on his way to see his wife, a U.S. Navy lieutenant stationed in Okinawa, who he married 8 months before.

But when Hicks got off of the plane on October 14 in Hawaii to allow the aircraft to be cleaned, maintained and refueled, his journey took a surprising turn.

Hicks wasn’t met with flower leis, hula dancers or the Aloha Spirit Hawaii is so well known for – instead two heavily armed military guards detained him for an hour without telling him why and then escorted him to a senior agent with U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement.

The agent told Hicks some surprising news – he was on the “No Fly list” and would not be allowed to re-board the military plane to go to see his wife in Japan, even though the military had cleared him to travel and despite the fact he’d already passed through a TSA inspection in California and flown to Hawaii.

She kept asking how he got on the military plane, as if accusing him of sneaking on, even though the military had cleared him; he had all of his identification, military paperwork and a ticket; and he went through military and TSA screening procedures before leaving California. Hicks asked if this could be a case of mistaken identity, but the agent confirmed his date of birth, social security number and other personal information.

The agent dismissed Hicks’ Transportation Worker Identification Credential, a document issued by the TSA for transportation workers, and she did not care about his professional background that allowed him high-level clearance on research and surveillance vessels. It also did not matter that just last month, Hicks renewed his concealed carry permit in Mississippi and was screened by the FBI, and was subsequently granted the right to carry a concealed firearm in government buildings.

Even worse, the Customs agent told him he would not be allowed to board a commercial flight back to Mississippi. Stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, more than 2,500 miles from where his journey started, Hicks was told he would have to find an alternative means of transportation back to the mainland United States.

So what could possibly get this military dependent, who is involved with many patriotic causes, and is a volunteer firefighter in his spare time, on the United States government’s “No Fly List”?

Hicks said he believes his political activities could have made him a target with the current federal administration.

Hicks is an organizer for tea party activities in Mississippi. He has spoken out about the importance of the U.S. Constitution, and complained about high taxes and government mandates at political rallies and on a radio show he hosted called “Free Speech Zone.”

He’s expressed his concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the 9-11 attack on America and said publicly he believes there is much more to the story than the official version Americans are being told.

And he is a vocal critic of the National Defense Authorization Act.

“I have no criminal record and no warrants out against me. I am not a violent person and have not made threats against anyone. The only thing I can think of was that I was detained because my political views and activities,” Hicks told Hawaii Reporter today.

“I was very vocal about the National Defense Authorization Act and I did contact my congressional representative about my concerns,” he said.

“I, like many architects and engineers, believe the official version of 9-11 warrants more investigation,” he added.

Calvin Griffin – a Hawaii radio talk show host and military veteran who produces a regular show on military issues called Hawaii Bulletin Board Radio and Television and runs the web site https://www.Broadcast50.com – was on the plane traveling to Hawaii with Hicks.

Griffin said he and other passengers went through extensive screening ahead of time, including registering, and presenting identification cards, travel documents, and orders, as well as a physical security check. He said Hicks showed him the special orders he had been issued allowing him to fly to Japan. Griffin subsequently had Hicks as a guest on his radio program to talk about his ordeal.

Hicks is looking for a way to get home on a private plane, sail boat or cruise ship, but he does not want to go into debt just to get back to the continental U.S.

Chartered planes from the islands can cost as much as $40,000. He is trying to manage without access to any form of electronic communication except his cell phone.

He has sought help from Hawaii legislators and the governor’s office as well as from his congressmembers.

Douglas J. Hagmann, who wrote about Hicks being stranded in Hawaii on his web site, Homelandsecurityus.com, said: “If all of the facts presently known withstand more intense scrutiny and further investigation, we have a very big problem in this country.”

“You might be next, and Hawaii might not be where you are inexplicably left on your own,” Hagmann said.

Hagmann, like other media across the country, are now following the fate of Hicks in hopes of logical explanation and a happy ending. But Hagmann said he is skeptical that there will be either.

Comments

comments

31 COMMENTS

  1. I believe that the TSA, ICE and the BATFE are out of control. They far exceed their mandate as government agencies and need to be reeled back in and redirected by competent authority.

  2. When is the government going to stop attacking people that believe the Government should obey the constitution? When the leaders take an oath of office they state that they will uphold the constitution. If they then oppress those who support the constitution, they have violated their oath, and need to be canned. I hope the Romney administration will fire all those involved here.

  3. It looks like he's not a regular Tea Party guy, part of a group that doesn't condone violence, but is willing to shoot anyone who votes for Obama.

    patriotsforamerica.ning.com/page/pfa-mission-statement

    (You see, it's legal to shoot Obama and anyone who supports him, 'cause Obama is an illegal usurper, so shooting him (and any Secret Service agents, cops, US Marines, etc, who happen to be in the way) is ENTIRELY supported by the Constitution! Anyone who disagrees will be shot.)

    So this guy is a nutcase, and should just go back to his Unibomer shack where he can froth and drool in peace.

    • i am having trouble following your line of reasoning here…i read their mission statement, and reread it, and did not find the part about shooting. in fact they stated the opposite.

    • I don't believe they said anything about shooting anyone. This is a stretch of the imagination. They said "We will rely/trust the ballot box for peaceful change and not condone violence. Only as a last resort, when the ballot box is destroyed, will the taking up of arms be necessary."
      Apparently they support the normal democratic process, but they don't support tyranny such as if the system of democracy were taken away.
      I don't have a problem with that statement.

  4. "Make no mistake, Patriots For America members will not waste time personally attacking (family, religion, etc) politicians but we will aggressively attack the liberal, socialist, anti-America positions, policies, and decisions being made by the Obama Administration and United States Congress."

    Get your facts straight! the above quote was taken from the very link in your post. I am Wade's wife. He has NO desire to shoot anyone. The one reference to taking up arms by the patriots of America group you reference has to do with the possibility of civil war breaking out. As long as the constitution exists, my husbands only desire is to keep it intact. I have a degree in Aerospace Engineering and he is one of the most intelligent people I have met. Just because you haven't done the research doesn't mean you can sit there and call my husband a nut job. Why don't you go fly to Hawaii and have a chat with him about it… And while you are at it try to get him off that damn island because I have tried everything I can think of to get my husband back home! (I am speaking completely on my own behalf and not that of the United States Government or Military. No one has my permission to use anything I say or type in any other venue at this time)

  5. is there some reason that the "senior agent with U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement." is not named. the first order of business in relieving ourselves of these petty tyrants is to let all the world know who they are. tyrants prefer to peddle their nonsense in anonymity and under the color of authority…let's not be cooperative in their quest to operate without accountability.

    his wife must be rethinking her willingness to play pointman for the government that is abusing this man so wrongly

  6. This is nuts! If the guy was a terrorist threat, wouldn't he have preferred to cause trouble while the military plane was fully loaded with fuel over the US mainland?

    This is certainly a case for the ACLU, and I hope he can find a lawyer in Hawaii capable of filing an injunction in Federal Court.

    This is just another example of why US citizens living abroad are afraid to travel to the US and get stuck somewhere without any way of returning home. We do not trust the federal government to treat us fairly or constitutionally.

    If anyone is interested, I would encourage you to visit Isaacbrocksociety dot ca where you can find stories and discussions from Americans abroad who are flabergasted by the US Federal bureaucracy.

  7. I wonder how this would be answered to if it were a question put to Obama and Romney both in the debate on 10/16.

    • I was asking myself the same question a few minutes ago. An incident like this one brings to mind fundemental questions of liberty in a constitutional democracy and candidates for the post of commander-in-chief should be expected to respond to such incidents.

      • fyi jeff, your "don't tread on me" has been cited as an indicator of subversive activity by the folks at Homeland Security. as have ron paul sticker, NRA stickers, tea party stickers…all local PD's have been memo'd that such indicia are signs of likel.y troublemakers

        the feds are out of control!!

        the fact that it's a variation of the first navy jack, and worn STILL on the uniforms of some of the fellas out doing the shootin' for us, is lost on the dopes that peddle their fear in an effort to justify their useless and unconstitutional activities

      • My "don't tread on me" is an exersize of free speech. Uncle Sam keeps messing with Americans and dual nationals in Switzerland and bullying us around and I am tired of it. The US government has really lost track of the founding revolutionary principles of America. This is a shame.

      • you might have missed my point. i was remarking on the irony of seeing the don't tread on me as anything other than a nod to those who really did die for us…and the double irony that the navy STILL uses it as a rallying cry.

      • Well it is indeed a nod to those who really did die for us… and a reminder to the US government not to put in jeapardy the freedoms that thinkers and patriots struggled for over the centuries. I think that we are at a real risk today of losing hundreds of years of democratic and human rights progress.

      • regrettably, your 'reminder' is entirely lost on those for whom it is intended. the mere fact that they might impugn one displaying it is all the proof i need to know that they have no interest in understanding, much less honoring, the constitution and will gladly continue to wipe their asses with it.

        the damage is done. your freedoms are gone. they will not be coming back. NDAA and the Patriot Act are merely the latest in a long line of incremental abuses that lead to the tyranny that permits a hack Homeland Security minion to bar a citizen from traveling.

        a rattlesnake does not attack, he defends. i am not sure that americans have the spine to defend after so many small cuts. too many of us are willing to suffer the indignities of having our children groped by TSA dullards, our "papers" inspected for the purpose of "homeland security", we permit RFID chips to be implanted, consent to redlight cameras, lay down while habeus corpus is suspended, permit the 2nd amendment to be watered down, consent to TWIC cards to keep employment (oddly enough the man who was barred from flying had a TWIC card). the distressing abuses are too numerous to list…the damage is done.

        i have friends that see a revolution coming…i say america doesn't have the balls for one.

  8. Give that guy a one way ticket to guantanamo…people just need to keep there mouths shut! We are at war! If you disagree with the government, you are an enemy of the estate, probably a communist! George W Bush would kick that guy in his butt back to afganistan where he belongs. Stop smokin crack pipes!

    • yeah, what he said! the government knows whats best for us…let's all stop thinking for ourselves and pull together to rally behind the president who only wants whats best for us.

      we should be grateful we have such hardworking public servants as the gal that got this terrorist off the plane as he was on his way to conspire with his armed wife in a land known for it's prior attacks on the U.S. I say we bomb Japan just to remind them that we are still sore from that Pearl Harbor thing they did to us.

    • Your comment shows that you really do not understand democracy and the values of free speech, due process, and the right to protection from arbitrary and cruel treatment. Over the centuries, many have fought and died for these values. Would you prefer that we return to the Dark Ages and become serfs and indentured laborers to the power potentates? Whether you like him or not, this guy Hicks is a US Citizen. Why do you want to send him to Afghanistan?

      • jeff, i was being sarcastic…this story offends me on too many levels to describe. i suspect that buck was also being sarcastic…i sure hope so anyway

      • I'm glad you admitted you were being sarcastic. I thought you were at first, but considering some of the crazy comments I've read lately (especially on the Miami Herald), I doubted myself there for a second. Whew!

    • I bet you're a good government slave you moron. You obviously don't believe in the Constitution.

Comments are closed.