Los Angeles — The new federal law requiring airport screeners to be U.S. citizens is unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed Thursday charges.
Nine screeners who could lose their jobs sued Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and John Magaw, the undersecretary of transportation for security, in federal court.
About 20 percent of the nation's 28,000 screeners are not citizens.
The law barring noncitizens also could compromise airport security by eliminating experienced screeners, said Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Transportation security administration spokesman Hank Price would not comment.
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