AFP AUDIO INTERVIEW
Wade Hicks, Jr., 34, a professional mariner by trade, father of one, from Gulfport, Mississippi, was on his way to visit his wife, a U.S. Naval Officer with the Seabees stationed in Okinawa, Japan, when the plane he was traveling on, a C-5 Galaxy, from Travis Air Force Base, stopped at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii to refuel. It was there that he was notified that he was on the No Fly list, as he explains in this disturbing interview (55:45).
Patriotic American Put on “No Fly” List for Voicing Opinions
By Dave Gahary
Yanked off plane and stranded on Hawaii for one week; told free to leave but not on an airplane
What began as a trip to visit his wife for a week turned into a nightmare for a man whose only “crime” was expressing patriotic views, criticizing the continuing loss of individual liberty in this country and questioning the United States government’s official conspiracy theory on 9-11.
Wade Hicks, Jr., 34, a professional mariner by trade, father of one, from Gulfport, Mississippi, was on his way to visit his wife, a U.S. Naval Officer with the Seabees stationed in Okinawa, Japan, when the plane he was traveling on, a C-5 Galaxy, from Travis Air Force Base, stopped at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii to refuel. It was there that he was notified that he was on the No Fly list.
The No Fly List is monitored by the Terrorist Screening Center, and includes people who are not permitted to board commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the country. Last year, the list contained about 10,000 names.
Hicks, stranded for one week on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, with only “a backpack and cellphone,” and spoke with AMERICAN FREE PRESS the night before he had been cleared to leave. This tale is revealing due to the fact that Hicks has never had even as much as a speeding ticket.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any type of illicit drugs whatsoever,” said Hicks. “I’ve held some security clearances,” and “I’m also a certified volunteer firefighter and a first responder.” “I do firearms instruction on the side as well.” Interestingly, Hicks had just been issued an enhanced concealed carry permit a few days before, which entails a thorough Federal Bureau of Investigation background check.
So why was Hicks, who was traveling on the U.S. military’s Air Mobility Command, put on the list? The answer may lie in his outspoken past.
Several years ago he was given the video 9/11 in Plane Sight.
“After I saw that video,” explained Hicks, “my life fundamentally changed.” “I’ve had some interesting views about 9-11 that probably led to me being put on the no-fly list.” Additionally, “I’ve been really outspoken about the Constitution for quite a long time,” and “I started a radio show called “The Free Speech Zone.”
Hicks takes the U.S. Constitution very seriously.
“I may have never been in the military, I’m not a veteran, but I can tell you one thing,” said Hicks, “I’m ready to die for an oath that I’ve taken. Not officially, of course, but I’ve taken the oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Hicks explained how the ordeal unfolded.
At Travis AFB in California, “no less than four times were my passport checked, my ID checked, my boarding passes checked and people were looking at computer terminals when all this was happening. So if there was any possibility that anything was out of the ordinary, it would’ve been discovered at that point.” The same procedure was followed at Hickam.
At a refueling stop at Hickam, “an airman came and got me and told me that I needed to go get some issues figured out with U.S. Customs,” said Hicks.
“A couple of Air Force security forces personnel showed up. They were dressed in their battle equipment; spare magazines, M4 rifles. One of the M4s had a 203 grenade launcher attached, and one of the airmen was carrying around a 50 caliber ammo can which I would assume had 15 to 20 grenades in it,” explained Hicks.
Department of Defense police showed up also, as did senior special agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who had a message for Hicks.
“You’re on the No Fly list,” she said. “You cannot fly. You should not have gotten on that aircraft, but you cannot leave. You cannot leave this island on an aircraft.”
“I was shocked. I told her, I said, ‘ma’am, this is kind of feeling a lot like NDAA 2012. I’m being detained by the military right now. This is falling right in line with some of the same things that I’m vocal about. This is really scary’.”
The ICE agent explained that “the people higher up said I was the right person. There’s no way that I’m getting on an airplane.”
Stranded at Hickam airport while the plane took off, Hicks was not only confused but concerned.
“It felt really weird having to have to be escorted to the urinal by three people with firearms,” he said.
After being detained there for between four and five hours, the ICE agent had a message.
She told me, “There’s nothing more we can do here. I’m sorry, but you can’t leave via aircraft. You’re free to go.”
“I was released,” said Hicks.” The gentlemen with the M4s escorted out of the airport.” “I was basically exiled in paradise.”
Hicks explained his suspicions.
“I never got searched through this entire ordeal, which is very interesting,” he said. “That tends to make me believe that it was more politically-motivated than intel-motivated, like I may have had something on my person or in my bag that was questionable. They were not interested in what I was carrying, they were interested in me.”
Hicks is motivated to find out why he was targeted.
“When I do get back to the house,” he said, “I’m going to go ahead and file the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as an entire entity and directly to TSA (Transportation Security Administration) as a sub-entity under DHS and ask for any and all information that they may have that has my name on it, my Social Security Number on it, my photos on it, audio recordings, any type of phone recordings, emails that they’ve intercepted. I’m going to ask for everything that they can possibly have on me.”
“The amount of work that I put in to getting myself out of situation,” said Hicks, “I’m gonna keep up that same effort to make sure that this never happens to another American citizen again.”
“This has mentally affected me,” he said. “This has changed who I am. This is the realization of all of my fears come true.” “I know they’re after me. There’s no doubt that they’re after me now.”
Dave Gahary, a former submariner in the U.S. Navy, is the host of AFP’s ‘Underground Interview’ series.
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