Asa Hutchinson: “In July of 1994, Jrae Mason, a grandmother, was sitting on the front porch of her house in Manhattan when she was…”

“In July of 1994, Jrae Mason, a grandmother, was sitting on the front porch of her house in Manhattan when she was approached by two strangers, bounty hunters who believed her to be a woman who had skipped bail in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Despite Ms. Mason's protests to the contrary, these strangers handcuffed her and forcibly took her to the police station. Despite police verification that she was who she said she was, the bounty hunters forcibly took her from New York to Alabama in handcuffs, in essence, kidnapped her. In Alabama, Ms. Mason finally convinced authorities that she was the wrong person. It was not hard to do since she looked nothing like the bail jumper. Three-and-a-half days and 910 miles later the bounty hunters finally acknowledged their error. Did they send her back to New York on an airplane? Of course not. They paid for a bus ticket to send Ms. Mason home. Is it not time for a little accountability in the bounty hunter profession? Skilled professional bounty hunters want it. Our law enforcement community wants it. And certainly innocent Americans want it. This will be the subject of a hearing in the Committee on the Judiciary tomorrow. I urge my colleagues to support the Citizens Protection Act.”