What sort of identification do you need to fly from a U.S. airport? According to the Transporation Security Agency (TSA), there are 16 forms of ID you can use to board an airplane. Generally, they include any government-issued ID like a driver’s license or a passport as well as military IDs, transportation worker cards, and a border crossing card.
And, if you’re an illegal alien and can’t manufacture your own ID or buy it, you can use your government-issued arrest warrant.
Responding to Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden’s Dec. 15 inquiry about illegal migrants flying across the country, TSA Administrator David Pekoske explained that certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents may be considered acceptable forms of alternate identification for non-citizens, including a “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” and a “Warrant of Removal/Deportation.”
“TSA’s response confirms the Biden Administration is knowingly putting our national security at risk,” Gooden told the DCNF. “Unknown and unvetted immigrants shouldn’t even be in the country, much less flying without proper identification.”
It must be comforting to illegal aliens to know that getting arrested won’t keep them from flying the friendly skies.
“TSA is committed to ensuring that all travelers, regardless of immigration status, are pre-screened before they arrive to the airport, have their pre-screening status and identification verified at security checkpoints, and receive appropriate screening based on risk before entering the sterile area of the airport,” Pekoske wrote.
Pekoske outlined that the alien identification number found on a DHS document is processed through one or both of the following databases: the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One mobile application or TSA’s National Transportation Vetting Center (NTVC).
Individuals who use the alternate forms of identification undergo extra screening, according to the letter.
We’re sure that all this screening will be very informative and perhaps even interesting. But the primary question being asked isn’t how much screening is done but rather will the screening make the public safer?
Certainly, the TSA isn’t going to let a known terrorist fly, regardless of their immigration status, right?
Right?
The BBC says that Malik Faisal Akram, the Texas synagogue hostage-taker, was investigated by MI5 just prior to coming to America.
Akram arrived in the U.S. from London on Dec. 29 of last year. Given the British authorities’ track record in terrorist investigations, Rep. Gooden might have a good point.
Gooden earlier told the DCNF that he was told by a border patrol officer that “they often have to take migrants at their word that they are who they say they are” when issuing DHS documents accepted by TSA as alternate forms of identification.
If an identity cannot be verified through a database search, an airport’s Federal Security Director (FSD) is left to determine any extra screening process or decide to deny the individual entry, according to the letter.
There is always going to be a conflict between liberty and security in a free country. That’s not what’s at stake by allowing criminal illegal aliens the privilege of flying in the U.S.
The stakes are far higher. The Constitution, as has been said many times, is not a suicide pact. But are we supposed to bend over backward in allowing illegal aliens to travel because it might hurt their feelings if we were to require them to have the same identification as legal residents and citizens?
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