A Native American woman claims she was told to “giddyup!” and had her braids “snapped like reins” by a US airport security agent.

Tara Houska, an attorney and activist for indigenous rights, was travelling through Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport to return home to Bemidji, Minnesota, on 13 January when a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent said she needed to pat down Ms Houska’s hair.

Ms Houska said the agent pulled her braids behind her shoulders, “laughed and said ‘giddyup!’ as she snapped my braids like reins”.

The experience left her “angry, humiliated".

“My hair is part of my spirit,” she tweeted. “Your ‘fun’ hurt.”

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Ms Houska said the agent “casually used her authority to dehumanize and disrespect me”.

When confronted, the agent allegedly said: “It was just in fun, I’m sorry. Your hair is lovely.”

The federal security director of TSA in Minnesota, Cliff Van Leuven, has since apologised to Ms Houska for the incident, sending an email to employees saying that the agency will “learn from this”.

“TSA holds its employees to the highest standards of professional conduct and any type of improper behaviour is taken seriously,” the agency said in a statement.

The Independent has contacted TSA for further comment.

It’s not the first time the agency has been accused of offensive behaviour.

In July 2019, two TSA employees were placed on leave for creating a racist display in a major US airport that agency officials described as “reprehensible”.

The display was found at a TSA workstation in Miami International Airport, and showed toy gorillas hanging from nooses.

“We choose not to describe the display under investigation. This reprehensible act runs absolutely counter to the values of the agency, and therefore we do not want to provide it any credence,” a TSA official told The Independent.