WASHINGTON – Six congressman Tuesday urged the Transportation Security Administration to remove Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams from its airport security watch list.
Hours after meeting President Bush at the White House on St. Patrick's Day, Adams was delayed at the airport on his way to Buffalo, N.Y., because of security concerns, said U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.
The lawmakers wrote to TSA Director Kip Hawley to protest Adams' treatment and to seek answers for why he was detained. Sinn Fein has accused the Bush administration of harassing Adams and other officials of the IRA-linked party at U.S. airports.
Because he was convicted for an Irish Republican Army-related crime in the early 1970s, Adams requires a special travel waiver when he travels to the U.S.
Other congressmen signing the letter, all from New York, were Republicans Peter King, James Walsh and John Sweeney, and Democrats Brian Higgins and Joe Crowley.
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