As reported by RedState on Tuesday, the Biden Administration has made a controversial decision to redeploy a number of U.S. Air Marshals to the southern border in an attempt to lend support to Border Patrol.
The marshals have been diverted to the border at the request of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month wouldn’t even acknowledge there’s a crisis at the crossing, saying at a congressional hearing: “the border is secure.”
Marshals that have already been deployed are said to be performing menial, non-law enforcement tasks, like hospital watches, transportation, and even janitorial duties. The Transportation Security Administration denies the “menial” nature of the redeployed assignments, saying that description is “entirely inaccurate and does not reflect the critical and professional law enforcement role these officers perform.”
In an exclusive report from The Washington Examiner on Wednesday morning, the president of the Air Marshal National Council said a “mutiny” is brewing among federal marshals who worry about jeopardizing the safety of airline travel during the busiest travel season of the year.
“The rank and file air marshals are going to refuse to deploy and risk termination,” said David Londo, president of the Air Marshal National Council, in a phone call with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of.”
The move would leave a mere single federal agent for every 100 domestic flights, just one-eighth of the typical marshal force in the air.
In a letter to The Examiner, Londo revealed the plan has drastically reduced morale and many agents are planning on risking termination in defiance of what they feel is malpractice of their duties.
“Morale is so destroyed from this,” said Londo, whose organization serves as an association, not a union. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Air marshals would be risking their jobs as inflation rages and the United States potentially heads into a recession.
The union head also sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas, pointing out the dangers of leaving the “friendly skies” largely unmonitored over the holidays.
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“According to the Federal Aviation Administration year to date there have been 2,178 reports of unruly passengers, 767 investigations initiated, and 517 enforcement actions taken. Not to mention the fact there has been two attempted attacks on our homeland since 9-11 during the holiday season,” the letter states. “Your policy has resulted in a complete loss of confidence in Secretary Mayorkas, FAM Director Stevenson, and Administrator Pekoske’s ability to lead DHS/TSA/FAMS.”
Londo pointed in his letter to recent violent passenger attacks midflight that involved weapons smuggled aboard the plane, as well as a cockpit breach on a Southwest Airlines flight last week.
Even the National Association of Police Organizations has lent its support to the air marshals and questioned DHS’s direction.
“The Federal Air Marshal Service is understaffed and covering the fewest number of flights since before September 11, 2001,” said NAPO, a coalition of more than 1,000 police departments across the country. “We strongly question the decision by the Department of Homeland Security to divert much-needed aviation security to the southern border especially as we enter the busiest travel season of the year, particularly as a Federal emergency has not been declared at the border.”
Why Biden’s DHS has made such a move is perplexing. Secretary Mayorkas did not have a robust response to the accusations, but did take the time to deny federal air marshals were performing janitorial work.
With an air marshal rebellion looming on the horizon, the council is currently working with the DHS Office of Inspector General to kickstart an official federal investigation into the matter.
The news of a possible marshal mutiny comes on the heels of news that a national railroad workers’ strike could be in the works over the next few months, exacerbating the possibility of national chaos as Americans begin to travel and order goods across the country.
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