The Biden administration‘s southern border woes continue as a group of federal law enforcement officers balk at its latest plans and Republicans are set to take over control of the House of Representatives in January.
Illegal border crossings have soared since President Joe Biden took office, reaching a record 2.76 million in fiscal 2022, which topped the previous record by more than 1 million. Now, U.S. air marshals are planning to stage an open rebellion against Biden over a plan they say would strip 99% of commercial flights from federal protection ahead of the holidays.
US AIR MARSHALS PLOT ‘MUTINY’ AGAINST BIDEN PLAN TO LEAVE FLIGHTS UNPROTECTED
“The rank and file air marshals are going to refuse to deploy and risk termination,” David Londo, president of the Air Marshal National Council, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of.”
The air marshals have been ordered to leave their assignments and go to the southern border to help respond to the situation. Londo said the work they’re assigned is often menial, such as “heating up sandwiches,” driving immigrants to the hospital, and waiting inside.
The overseeing agency, the Transportation Security Administration, said in a statement that the claims of air marshals doing menial tasks are “entirely inaccurate and does not reflect the critical and professional law enforcement role these officers perform.”
However, the standoff demonstrates a continued unraveling of the southern border situation, argues Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. She places the blame firmly at Biden’s feet.
“It demonstrates that the Department of Homeland Security is running out of employees to send to the border to support the administration’s open border policies,” she said. “This border crisis is unsustainable — both for American communities but also for DHS employees. The Border Patrol has reached a historic number of agent suicides during this administration. Time and time again, this administration shows no concern for their agents or employees; it is clearly willing to sacrifice them at the Left’s alter of open borders.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed on Biden’s border policies during Wednesday’s briefing and defended the administration’s actions.
“The president has secured record levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” said Jean-Pierre. “We have over 23,000 agents working to secure the border. We’ve taken thousands of smugglers off the streets, and we’re cutting down on asylum processing times.”
Jean-Pierre pointed to Republicans for not supporting legislation to fix the immigration and “secure our border.” However, the number of crossings has soared since Biden took office, even without legislative changes.
Republican lawmakers have been furious at Biden’s handling of the southern border for months, saying the situation amounts to chaos that is putting undue pressure on border communities. Govs. Greg Abbott (R-TX), Doug Ducey (R-AZ), and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have sent buses and planes of volunteer immigrants to major cities in an attempt to draw attention to the situation, which the White House described as an inhumane political stunt.
Now, the GOP is set to take over the House, giving it another avenue to apply pressure.
“A Republican majority House of Representatives will certainly hold hearings and conduct oversight to investigate and expose what the Biden administration has been doing during this crisis,” Ries said. “It is imperative that Congress withhold funds from the administration that would further any of its open border processing.”
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The border is also expected to become a talking point in the 2024 presidential election, in which the Republican nominee is sure to hammer on the situation as a campaign issue.
