There is serious concern on Capitol Hill from lawmakers over new revelations that illegal immigrants may have been boarding commercial airline flights without showing a photo ID.
The possible loophole raises serious security concerns as TSA checkpoints require identification checks prior to entering the secure area of an airport and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) is pressing the Department of Homeland Security over the issue.
On the Todd Starnes Show Thursday, Biggs said that his office had sent a letter to the DHS over the issue, but it was like “trying to pry the information out from under the rock.”
Biggs said that the illegal immigrants who take commercial flights use their court document instead of an ID and then make it through TSA ID check and are permitted to board flights.
“It’s been tough getting that information but it is a serious concern because the reason that you have things like real I.D. or you have the TSA security is because you have terrorist threats and we don’t even know everybody coming across the border today and we’re having trouble vetting these folks,” Biggs said.
Fox Nation’s Todd Starnes didn’t have much praise for TSA practices either.
“It’s outrageous especially for all of us who have to go through those TSA checkpoints and were manhandled and mauled by these gloved individuals,” he said.
Biggs said that it was quite clear that illegal immigrants are “being treated differently,” which he compared to George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
“Some people are treated equal more equal than others and that’s what we’re seeing if you are here illegally you’re going to get released into the country because we don’t have the resources to detain you,” Biggs said. “We can’t even take care of you, we’re going to send you off to places around the country.”
The congressman said that he had had his own run-ins with illegal immigrants on commercial flights, saying that on flights between Phoenix and Washington D.C., illegal immigrants are being put on the plane first.
“I think most of America – the more they see that the more fed up they get,” Biggs said. “But if it’s necessary to detain these people, we have ICE running out of money trying to hold these people, Border Patrol is running out of money they’re stretched thin.”