Summer is a hectic and busy time for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), what with vacationers carrying extra face cream and attempting to smuggle nail clippers, brass knuckles, or breast milk in their carry on luggage. It’s a stressful job when facing the snaking long lines of shoeless, frustrated travelers, and it’s only going to get worse as TSA officials are being deployed to the U.S. southern border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that 109,000 migrants were detained while attempting to cross the border in April — the second month in a row that apprehensions crested 100,000, with more than 3,000 apprehensions each day.
Senior TSA official, Gary Renfrow, recently sent an email to regional managers notifying of the summer plan, citing “There is now immediate need for more help from TSA at the SW border. TSA has committed to support with 400 people from Security Ops.”
He also warned, “We also understand that we are accepting some risk as we enter a very busy summer.”
But TSA assistance comes at a critical juncture, as U.S. Border Patrol is overwhelmed, understaffed, underappreciated by Swamp sitters, and flat-out exhausted.
Deployments
As the immigration crisis escalates to a 10-year high of illegal crossings, additional aid from other federal agencies is necessitous and resources are now being reallocated. What Democrats and celebrities have repeated ad nauseum, that the border situation is simply a “charade” of a crisis, is now becoming quite evident. And it’s taking a heavy toll on the Border Patrol agents who are reporting more illnesses than ever before.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch reported to the Senate Homeland Committee last month:
“This is not a manufactured crisis created by those of us who live and work in the border area. Border Patrol continues to apprehend record numbers of people who purposely violate U.S. immigration laws, we are taken advantage of by gaps in our legal frameworks and that undermine the rule of laws.”
The TSA plans to rotate in deployment-style shifts over the next several weeks. According to Renfrow, they will engage up to 175 law enforcement officials and 400 additional people from security operations: Managers are being asked to volunteer and schedule up to “around 10%” of their workforce. This includes pencil pushing attorneys, armed air marshals, and everyone in between.
While most Americans see TSA employees as the folks who wand, x-ray, and search passengers at airport security gates, there are a lot of behind the scenes security measures in play – and these deployments would claim employees from other vital sectors. According to one former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official, those positions less visually obvious are just as critical: “That’s sweeping airports, that is monitoring activity on the inside and outside of the security line, they’re supporting local and state law enforcement.”
Creating Vulnerability
As resources are pulled across national security departments to fill a gap created and exacerbated by a do-nothing Congress another chasm is created. Allowed – and as some may say, contrived – by the Democrats for political reasons, unchecked immigration has overwhelmed federal, state, and local resources in the states that border Mexico.
Groups of citizens are now patrolling several border sectors, putting their lives on the line instead of watching their homeland’s invasion. Small town and rural churches and charities cannot keep up with the needs of asylum seekers dumped by the busload on their doorsteps. Many who have no documentation, are suffering from contagious diseases, and do not have even a basic change of clothes.
Border Patrol agents are acting as chefs, nursemaids, and caregivers, pulling them away from their sworn duty of protecting the United States. And now, TSA employees, who protect the nation’s air travelers, will meet a similar fate. As national security defenses go, this is a full-blown crisis, leaving holes of potential problems both domestically and abroad. There is simply no reason to not fund national security — but the Democrats have created their own and refuse to be a part of the solution.
The TSA is reassuring Americans that “at this time, the deployment will not include any frontline resources,” and that schedules are not yet finalized.
The lines may be a little bit longer this summer for air travelers, and TSA personnel a bit more harried and gruffer than usual, but patience is a virtue. Hopefully, a feasible plan with the finances required will be implemented before the next wave of deployments further taxes national security resources leaving even larger groups of Americans vulnerable to unspeakable acts.
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