Experts are demanding Congress prevent President Joe Biden’s administration from allowing migrants at the southern border to bypass Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules while flying throughout the United States.
The Immigration Accountability Project (IAP), which Rosemary Jenks heads, is leading a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), urging them to include the “VALID Act” in 2024’s bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The VALID Act, which Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) introduced with Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT), would halt the Biden administration’s practice of allowing migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to use Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents as official identification (ID) to present to TSA agents at American airports.
“… we urge you to close a policy loophole that threatens public safety by allowing unvetted individuals with unverifiable identification to board aircraft traveling to or within the United States,” the experts write. “This is a clear public safety and national security risk that is unacceptable.”
.@SpeakerJohnson @SenSchumer @LeaderMcConnell FAA reauthorization must close the loophole that threatens public safety by allowing unvetted individuals with unverifiable identification to board aircraft traveling to or within the United States.https://t.co/gp6oI5kYrY
— Immigration Accountability Project (@I_A_Project) April 29, 2024
Among the DHS documents a migrant can use to board U.S. flights are arrest warrants, deportation orders, Notices to Appear (NTA) in immigration court, and federal custody booking records.
“No U.S. citizen or lawful immigrant or nonimmigrant may board an aircraft traveling to or within the United States without presenting a photo ID or completing an onerous identity verification process,” the experts write:
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and unvetted parolees are being permitted to board aircraft traveling to or within the United States based purely on the biographic information they choose to provide on the CBP-One app or to the Border Patrol agents processing them. There is no process for verifying that the name they provide is their actual name, or that they do not have a criminal record in their home country. [Emphasis added]
By allowing illegal aliens and parolees to board aircraft based only on the information they entered into the CBP-One app or that an overworked Border Patrol agent filled in on a Notice to Appear (NTA) or a Notice to Report (NTR), air carriers and the Department of Homeland Security are putting all their other passengers at risk. This is especially concerning when FBI Director Christopher Wray is warning of a significantly elevated threat from foreign terrorist organizations, and the Department of Homeland Security is admitting that record numbers of known terrorists have crossed the southern border. [Emphasis added]
Without the VALID Act, the experts write, “American air travelers will potentially be put in harm’s way directly at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security.”
“The VALID Act closes this dangerous loophole by prohibiting air carriers and the Department of Homeland Security from accepting the CBP-One app, NTAs, or NTRs to board aircraft traveling to or within the United States,” they continue.
Other signatories of the letter include former DHS officials Tom Homan and Mark Morgan, as well as RJ Hauman with the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) and the Claremont Institute’s Theo Wold.
Since Biden took office in late January 2021, the nation’s foreign-born population has grown by 6.4 million — exceeding the population of 33 states. Today, the foreign-born population stands at an unprecedented 51 million, the largest ever recorded in American history.
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Randy Clark / BreitbartJohn Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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