Tue Dec 13, 2022 AT 10:53 AM EST
House Republicans have asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it will protect thousands of domestic flights this holiday travel season after pulling nearly all air marshals down to the southern border.
Seven GOP lawmakers sent Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a letter on Monday requesting that the department turn over information about the Transportation Security Administration’s decision to require Federal Air Marshal Service officers to help Border Patrol agents amid the crisis.
“We are profoundly concerned that the Department of Homeland Security is redirecting these Air Marshals away from their critical law enforcement functions in our nation’s skies, creating a massive risk to public safety,” wrote the seven members of Congress, led by Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio. “As we enter one of the busiest travel times of the year, it is imperative that we have every Federal Air Marshal tending to their actual job rather than assisting in a problem your administration created and continues to ignore.” Read Full Story