FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is sounding the alarm about the effect the Biden administration’s “open border policies” are having on airport security — alleging that weaknesses in vetting could be putting safety at risk.
“DHS, particularly TSA, must explain how it is responding to the serious ways in which the administration’s open border policies are undermining airport security and Americans’ safety,” Cruz, who is ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Cruz has been quizzing various agencies and airports about the effect that migration has had on the safety and security at airports, including the sheltering of migrants at a number of major U.S. airports.
SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS EXPAND PROBE INTO AIRPORTS IN ‘SANCTUARY’ JURISDICTIONS SHELTERING MIGRANTS
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
In this letter to Mayorkas, Cruz highlighted three ways that he says “the administration’s open border policies are weakening airport security…”
He pointed first to the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), which allows up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to fly into the U.S. via humanitarian parole. The program was recently paused due to large amounts of fraud in sponsor applications.
He also highlighted data that those being allowed in via the CBP One app, which is used for both CHNV and entrants at the border via parole, nearly 96% of those who got an appointment were approved.
The Republican senator also pointed to a recent DHS OIG report, which faulted parts of the app and its use of data, finding also that it could not access all biometric data.
“Meanwhile, as these unvetted aliens fly into the country, TSA has deployed a significant number of air marshals—who are supposed to be protecting planes in…
