Republicans sound alarm on flight safety over Biden plan to send Air Marshals to border

House Republicans are warning the Biden administration that its plan to utilize US Air Marshals along the southern border will put 'the lives and safety of airline passengers at risk' over the holidays, according to a Monday letter obtained first by DailyMail.com.

Ohio GOP Rep. Mike Carey is leading a request for more information to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees both Customs and Border Patrol as well as the Transportation Security Agency - which runs the Federal Air Marshal Service.

Carey's letter lists a series of questions for Mayorkas about the plan, including 'an estimate of the cost' of sending Air Marshals to the border, what they're working on, and what - if any - public safety evaluation was done before taking action. 

The letter is co-signed by six other Republican members of Congress. 

'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,' the lawmakers stated.

They also raise concerns about how the Biden administration's impending rollback of the COVID pandemic-era Title 42 expulsion policy would exacerbate the record surge of people trying to cross the border.

The Department of Homeland Security said there was 'nothing new or unique' about sending Air Marshals to the border in a statement to DailyMail.com on Monday afternoon.

Air Marshals are armed federal agents who are tasked with anonymously riding commercial airline flights, in case an emergency threat arises.

There are an estimated 3,000 Air Marshals in the United States.

Biden's plan would reduce the force covering flights to just an eighth of its normal operating size, according to the Washington Examiner. That's reportedly about one Air Marshal on every 100 flights.

Air Marshal National Council executive director Sonya LaBosco confirmed the 1 percent statistic to DailyMail.com.

'I'm concerned about my own family traveling, you know, for the holidays. I had family traveling in and I was so nervous during Thanksgiving,' LaBosco said. 'Because I knew there weren't going to be enough Air Marshals on the planes because they're down at the border.'

She said the Air Marshals' planned deployment is expected to last until April 2023.

House Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration about the president's reported plan to deal with the border crisis by sending Air Marshals for support

Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Carey is leading the inquiry, which is backed by six other House GOP lawmakers

Pulling Air Marshals out of the skies to help ease the migrant crisis is 'creating a massive risk to public safety,' Carey's letter said, with barely three weeks until airline travel is expected to surge for the end-of-year holiday season.

A federal judge ruled recently that President Joe Biden must end Title 42 - which allows border agents to turn asylum-seekers away on contact in the name of slowing the spread of COVID-19 - by the end of December 21. 

'Many of us have been to the southern border and have seen the major issues underway and know of the ripple effect it has on our country,' the letter stated.

'The Administration's lenient immigration policies, including the proposed revocation of Title 42, have led to record-setting encounters at the southern border.

'By failing to take steps to secure our country and further encouraging illegal migrant crossings, the Administration is draining the limited resources of every branch of federal law enforcement.'

LaBosco, the Air Marshal National Council chief, told DailyMail.com she saw 'zero' logic in sending Air Marshals down to the border.

'They're not even doing law enforcement duties,' she said. 'They are transporting folks to the hospital. They're standing by at the hospital like a hospital watch situation. They're signing people in and out of the facility like security...They're running food - I hate to say, it's like an Uber Eats - but they're picking food up and bringing it back to the areas they're working. Nothing an NGO or a contractor could not do.'

This year's Christmas and New Years holidays will be the first since 2019 to see travelers fly largely without COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Thanksgiving travelers were projected to number over 54 million, according to AAA, a rise that nearly matches pre-pandemic levels.

While navigating a surge in travel as the industry still struggles to meet demand, DHS is also dealing with a record surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The number of people encountered by Border Patrol has risen to record levels since Biden took office. 

They're demanding to know how the Biden administration is planning to keep holiday travelers safe with the expected reduction in Air Marshals guarding commercial flights (pictured: Orlando International Airport packed for the Thanksgiving holiday)

Meanwhile, a federal judge ordered the expiry of the pandemic-era Title 42 migrant expulsion policy on December 21, amid a months-long surge in people trying to claim asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border (pictured: migrants kidnapped by organized crime groups and recently released cross the Rio Bravo to turn themselves in to U.S. authorities on December 11)

Migrants, mostly from Nicaragua who were kidnapped by organized crime in the state of Durango and released days later by the Mexican Army, cross the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, December 11, 2022

There has been a record surge in migrants at the southern border during Biden's term

'The Federal Air Marshal Service was created with the goal of stopping threats to aviation, not responding to a humanitarian crisis,' the House GOP letter stated.

'Utilizing the men and women of the Air Marshal Service at the southern border puts the lives and safety of airline passengers at risk.'

The DHS spokesperson countered that 'The suggestion that flights are being left unprotected is completely false.' 

Carey demanded that Mayorkas provide answers by the end of the year about the 'projected impact to public safety' and how DHS will 'ensure the safety of passengers aboard commercial aircrafts now that many Federal Air Marshals are no longer working in their positions.'

Mayorkas is expected to be among a lengthy list of investigative targets when House Republicans take their chamber's majority next year. 

It's not immediately clear if GOP lawmakers will take harsher measures to get answers on the Monday letter when they have subpoena power starting in January. 

The Examiner first reported in late November that Air Marshals were planning to 'refuse to deploy' to the border 'and risk termination.'

A DHS spokesperson told DailyMail.com in response to a request for comment about the letter, 'Federal Air Marshals have long supported various Departmental operations on a regular basis across Democratic and Republican administrations alike. There is nothing new or unique about this.'

'They have been deployed to support the U.N. General Assembly, Operation Allies Welcome, hurricane recovery efforts, and CBP at the Southwest border. The last Administration in 2019 temporarily deployed some Federal Air Marshals to support CBP at the Southwest border,' the statement continued.

'The suggestion that flights are being left unprotected is completely false. TSA takes its responsibility to secure the skies for the traveling public very seriously. We will continue to protect commercial flights though our multi-layered security processes, including through the Federal Air Marshal Service which supports this critical mission on the ground and onboard aircrafts.'

The letter, obtained first by DailyMail.com, sets a deadline for the Biden administration to respond by the end of the year