The U.S. air marshals have reportedly started rumbling about rebellion due to a direct order coming from President Joe Biden and his White House to abandon their posts aboard commercial flights and move down to take up posts along the U.S. southern border.
Multiple dozens of marshals have openly promised to go directly disobey the order in protest, explained Marshal National Council President David Londo in a release to The Washington Examiner. President Joe Biden has called on U.S. air marshals to move down to the southern border to deal with the current lack of available agents of the Border Patrol, a plan thought to result in the marshals being cut down to just one-eighth their normal coverage of U.S. flights.
“The rank and file air marshals are going to refuse to deploy and risk termination,” stated Londo. “You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of.”
“Morale is so destroyed from this,” he went on. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Loud Denial of the claims from Londo came down from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It is “entirely inaccurate and does not reflect the critical and professional law enforcement role these officers perform,” the TSA claimed via a release.
Officials with the Federal Air Marshal Service called on the marshals throughout last year to volunteer to take part in a 30-day sting at the southern border helping border agents process migrants. Just last month, the Biden administration chose to make these volunteer positions much more mandatory and permanent.
Via a letter able to be procured by the Examiner, Londo explained to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, Federal Air Marshal Service Director Tirrell Stevenson, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the air marshals had daily to keep “confidence” in the official’s power to lead.
“As it stands today, we believe that many FAMs will refuse to deploy, believing the order is reckless and leaving our country vulnerable to attack,” stated Londo. “On behalf of our membership, stop these dangerous and irresponsible deployments before our adversaries take advantage of the opportunity this policy has provided.”
The organization of air marshalls has managed to garner support from various other outside law enforcement groups in this new and building battle against the Biden administration. The National Association of Police Organizations issued a release standing alongside the protest from the air marshals, as reported by Fox News.
“The Federal Air Marshal Service is understaffed and covering the fewest number of flights since before September 11, 2001,” stated the group. “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.”
Additionally, Londo’s claims that the moving of air marshalls to the border resulted in leaving the previously protected flights now unprotected received heavy pushback from the Department of Homeland Security.
“ The suggestion that flights are being left unprotected is completely false,” explained the department in a release to Fox News. “TSA takes its responsibility to secure the skies for the traveling public very seriously. We will continue to protect commercial flights though [sic] our multi-layered security processes, including through the Federal Air Marshal Service which supports this critical mission on the ground and onboard aircrafts.”
