Hundreds of TSA personnel — including air marshals — are being redeployed to the border with Mexico to help handle the migrant inflows as the summer travel season heats up, according to a new report.
The Transportation Security Administration acknowledged in an internal email obtained by CNN that the move carries “some risk” of depleted resources in aviation security.
As many as 175 law enforcement officials and 400 workers from security operations could be moved to the border, with some parts of TSA being asked to contribute about 10 percent of its workforce, the network reported.
The effort, however, will not involve uniformed screeners at airports, according to the report, which said the teams will be culled from six cities.
“There is now immediate need for more help from TSA at the SW border,” senior TSA official Gary Renfrow wrote in the email to agency regional management. “TSA has committed to support with 400 people from Security Ops” who will be deployed in waves “similar to support for past hurricanes.”
“We also understand that we are accepting some risk as we enter a very busy summer,” Renfrow added, calling the effort an “additional challenge.”
Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security official, said the deployments would draw employees from important behind-the-scenes security work.
“That’s sweeping airports, that is monitoring activity on the inside and outside of the security line, they’re supporting local and state law enforcement,” the CNN analyst said.
Officials expect the groups to include federal air marshals, who normally fly in plain clothes on commercial flights to prevent terrorist hijackings.
Some Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, uniformed teams — which patrol busy transportation hubs such as airports and train stations — also are expected to be included in the redeployment, according to the report.
That deployment would result in a decrease of about 8 percent to air marshal operations and a 20 percent drop to VIPR patrol operations, according to a source who said TSA has about 31 VIPR teams.
After legal training, the officials will be designated as immigration officers and help Customs and Border Protection officers and agents in their duties, a source familiar with the plans told CNN.
The effort will last between 45 and 60 days, “although it could be longer,” according to the email.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security referred questions to the TSA, which did not comment to CNN.