A musician says she spent up to 45 minutes handcuffed to a bench at LAX before learning it was over a 2018 Georgia tag light issue

Los Angeles-based musician Cydnee With a C (cydneewithac) was returning from a trip to South Korea when she says she found herself handcuffed at customs and marched through LAX. Her post describing the situation has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram and TikTok. In her video, Cydnee said that the situation began when the facial recognition portion of immigration ended with the machine beeping.

Cydnee said that she was pulled aside and taken to another officer who had her passport. This man allegedly told her that he had to take her downstairs. She thought it was harmless, noting, “I’m thinking it’s another check that I have to go through or something.” Instead, she claims he told her he had to “cuff her.” When she freaked out, he allegedly told her that something about her was “flagged” and “we have to get to the bottom of it before we let you back into the country.”

Cydnee claims she was moved twice in handcuffs, then searched and cuffed to a bench, saying, “I’m waiting in there for a cop to come and explain to me what’s going on.” Eventually, she says, a woman told her that this issue has been happening a lot and that “9 times out of 10, it’s a traffic violation.” She says the police eventually told her that it was a minor tag light issue from 2018 in Georgia, something she said she had already resolved.

She says she was terrified the whole time

Reflecting on the experience, Cydnee wrote in her Instagram caption, “I can’t believe this happened to me and I don’t know what’s going on in administration, but everybody make sure to check your records when you leave the country.” She also wrote, “I was so scared I thought I was never gonna see outside of the walls within that 30 to 45 minute period that I was in those walls handcuffed to that bench.”

It is not clear from her account what record flagged her or why a ticket she says was resolved would still appear. Her followers were shocked by the situation, and many agreed that it wasn’t normal. One user wrote, “arrested for an old traffic ticket is WILD,” while another asked, “When did the airport become the dmv.” A third user claimed that their license was flagged for “open speeding in another state from 1991!”

Some commenters saw Cydnee’s experience as a symptom of the government’s current border policies, which have drawn scrutiny in other viral cases, including a Canadian citizen who said he was turned away at the border after an agent copied his phone. One user told Cydnee that the scanners are “frequently incorrect when it comes to blk people” and recommended declining facial and biometric scans in the future.

In her video, Cydnee emphasized that she wanted to share her story to warn others that this could happen to anyone returning to the country.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Cydnee With a C’s Instagram and TikTok posts.