White mother sues Southwest Airlines after being accused of trafficking biracial daughter

Mary MacCarthy alleges that a Southwest employee reported her to Denver police about possible trafficking “for no other reason than the different color of her daughter’s skin from her own.”

A white mother is taking legal action against Southwest Airlines, alleging that employees accused her of trafficking her biological daughter, who is biracial.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 3 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, asserts that on Oct. 22, 2021, Mary MacCarthy and her daughter, Moira, then 10, were traveling from Los Angeles to Denver to attend MacCarthy’s brother’s funeral, People reported.

MacCarthy’s lawsuit claims that a Southwest employee reported her to Denver police about possible trafficking, believing the child could not be hers “for no other reason than the different color of her daughter’s skin from her own.”

“I want Southwest Airlines and the Denver police to be held accountable for what is undoubtedly a case of racial profiling involving a 10-year-old Black girl, who was already suffering the worst day in her life — a death in her family,” said MacCarthy, People reported.

The lawsuit claims Denver authorities met MacCarthy and her young daughter at Denver International Airport after receiving information that the single mother was suspected of trafficking children, an allegation motivated by a “racist assumption about a mixed-race family.”

MacCarthy told People in 2021 that she and her daughter initially couldn’t sit together on the trip from Los Angeles to San Jose, where they had a layover en route to Denver. However, on the next flight, she found two available seats next to each other, as instructed by the Southwest attendants.

While the flight appeared uneventful after that, a Southwest staffer and two police officers greeted MacCarthy on the jet bridge upon the pair’s landing at the Denver airport. She initially believed they were coming to let them know another family member had died. 

Instead, she learned authorities were there to speak with her because she and her daughter were said to have been behaving suspiciously. Police told her it was regular operating practice to look into the allegations, according to video captured by MacCarthy. While this was happening, the recording shows, Moira could be seen crying.

“At that point in my mind, it clicked that we had probably been profiled,” recalled MacCarthy. “I’ve been raising this girl for 10 years; she’s my biological daughter, and I knew things like this could happen.”

According to police investigations, the Southwest employee believed MacCarthy may have been a human trafficker after the family boarded the plane at the last minute and requested a seat swap. The employee reported that Moira did not converse with the staff or MaCarthy during the flight. 

The lawsuit states that police allowed MacCarthy to leave after questioning, “but not before this display of blatant racism by Southwest Airlines caused Ms. MacCarthy and her daughter extreme emotional distress.”

MacCarthy, who is requesting punitive damages, denied any involvement in human trafficking and said she was surprised by the accusations.

Southwest officials indicated they have nothing further to add about the pending litigation.

David Lane, MacCarthy’s attorney, asserted in a statement that Southwest Airlines tried to handle the severe offense of sex trafficking by employing “a stereotypical, easy formula.”

“Just as the police are constitutionally not permitted to stop-and-frisk young men of color based upon their race, corporate America is similarly not permitted to resort to such profiling in using law enforcement to stop and question racially diverse families simply based upon their divergent races, which is what Southwest did,” said Lane, according to People. “The lawsuit is designed to bring some accountability to the airline and cause them to re-examine their training and policies.”

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