Legal Organization Launches Investigation into TSA’s ‘Vetting’ of Illegal Immigrants in US Airports
Several months ago, while walking through Phoenix Sky Harbor airport preparing to take one of my many routine trips to visit college campuses, I noticed something out of the ordinary: dozens of immigrant groups carrying a plain black duffle bag and carrying papers in a clear sleeve that made it appear to be a kind of official document.
Not long after I noticed this trend, the holidays rolled in, and Turning Point USA’s largest event of the year, AmFest, was right around the corner. This event would bring hundreds of conservative media personalities, political commentators, and social media influencers through Phoenix Sky Harbor, who would all inevitably witness exactly what I did: swaths of illegal immigrants being herded through U.S. airports, onto domestic flights, and further into the country.
Ashley St. Clair, a political commentator and online figure who flew through Phoenix shared on X, “It looks like we have a whole lot of migrants who are also boarding this flight [to JFK Airport] that the U.S. taxpayers are paying for.”
The post received significant media attention, and shortly after Fox News’ Bill Melugin began reporting from Tucson and Phoenix airports, questioning airport employees and immigrants as to what exactly was happening.
Melugin reported that illegal immigrants were being directed to a specific “immigration line” designated for non-citizens without passports. These individuals were then being flown to cities around the U.S. on flights also occupied by paying passengers.
Then, on December 21, 2023, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released a statement alleging that TSA “may be allowing illegal aliens to fly across the country using de facto fake IDs.”
“Currently, TSA and the Department of Homeland Security are effectively relying on the word of illegal aliens regarding their names and dates of birth—potentially allowing terrorists, cartel members, and other criminals to assume new identities, obtain DHS-issued fake IDs, and fly out of U.S. airports,“ the statement reads.
In a letter expressing concern to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Senator Ted Cruz said, “In effect, TSA is applying one standard for verifying the identities of American citizens, and another, weaker standard for ‘verifying’ the identities of illegal aliens. This is alarming.”
On Friday, after witnessing “multitudes of illegal aliens traveling through airports and boarding flights across the country” America First Legal launched an investigation into the Transportation and Security Administration’s “vetting” process for illegal immigrants who have been spotted boarding dozens of domestic U.S. flights in recent weeks.
“TSA recognizes that ‘[a]viation is a preferred target for terrorists seeking to conduct spectacular mass-casualty attacks that cause economic damage and garner widespread media attention.’ But while the TSA rigorously screens law-abiding Americans, it effectively takes illegal aliens at their word for their identities,” AFL wrote in a press release announcing the investigation. The organization stated that it is committed to “uncovering the network of taxpayer-supported “charities” and businesses that support, facilitate, and profit from this unprecedented assault on our laws and national sovereignty.”
