A man said he was accused of trafficking his two wards — who he has legal guardianship over — by police at Denver International Airport last week, an incident he said happened because his family is multi-race.
Jim Niven, who is white, flew to Denver from Costa Rica with his two wards on July 2 to visit family and work on the girls’ custody process.
When they got off the plane, Niven and the two girls — who were born in Colombia and only speak Spanish — were met by police officers as well as airport and United Airlines representatives. Niven said the officers came up behind him and directed him into a corner away from the girls and began questioning him in front of other passengers.
That’s when he was told a flight attendant had flagged the family because she thought Niven had drugged the girls and was trafficking them, he said.
“They just jumped to conclusions because of ridiculous things,” Niven said. “…This was only because they don’t look like me and they don’t speak English.”
Niven said he had translated for the girls during the flight when they were asked in English what they wanted for lunch and to drink, but there had been no indication during the flight that anything was wrong.
Denver police confirmed that they questioned a person at the airport regarding possible trafficking on July 2, but that they determined no crime had been committed.
“Our team followed up with the customer to extend an apology,” said a United spokesperson in an email to The Denver Post when asked about the incident.
“United Airlines personnel suspected human trafficking and referred the travelers to the Denver Police Department, who requested assistance from (U.S. Customs and Border Protection),” Jason Givens, a spokesman for the federal agency, said in a statement. “CBP takes accusations of human trafficking seriously and officers did their due diligence to question the traveler. The accusations were unfounded.”
A representative for the airport directed media requests to the Denver Police Department.
Niven said he showed officers the guardianship papers he has for his wards and authorities “settled down.” He said he was also escorted to an office and interviewed by federal authorities.
“The girls were traumatized,” Niven said.
Niven and his wife have legal guardianship of the two girls and are in the process of trying to adopt the 13- and 15-year-olds. The two girls are U.S. citizens and were adopted by a Colorado family that relinquished guardianship, Niven said.
Niven shared court documents with The Post that showed he and his wife were named temporary guardians of the two girls earlier this year.
He lives in Costa Rica but three of his adult children live in Denver.
He and his wife have fostered more than 50 children. They have also adopted three other children, including two from China, so not every member of Niven’s family looks alike, he said.
“I realize that may be off-putting to some people, including these flight attendants, but it was super disheartening,” Niven said.
Niven said he has flown in and out of the country about six times with his two wards and has never had a problem before.
But similar incidents have happened to mix-race families before, including at Denver International Airport.
A white woman and her daughter, who is Black, were questioned at the airport in 2021 for being suspicious. A Black woman from Aurora was stopped in Dallas after a Frontier Airlines flight reported her as a potential trafficker because she was flying with her adopted white sister.
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