Some U.S. air marshals plan to refuse deployment to U.S.-Mexico border By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Asylum-seeking migrants stroll out of the Rio Bravo river after crossing it to show themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol brokers to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gon

By Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Greater than a dozen U.S. air marshals plan to refuse deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border, in accordance with a bunch representing them, an indication of challenges dealing with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration because it grapples with report migrant crossings.

The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) sought volunteers from the Federal Air Marshal Service to journey to the southwest border, however when fewer than 150 signed up in October, some have been assigned, mentioned Sonya LaBosco, government director of the Air Marshal Nationwide Council.

The air marshals are a part of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), a DHS subagency, and experience on U.S. airways to protect towards safety threats.

A lawyer for the air marshal group wrote in a Nov. 4 letter to the company that the deployments are unlawful as a result of they contain duties outdoors the scope of the job. Whereas DHS doesn’t launch the variety of marshals, LaBosco mentioned there have been fewer than 3,000.

LaBosco mentioned the deployments would damage U.S. aviation safety through the vacation journey season and drive marshals to tackle unrelated duties on the border, together with watching migrant youngsters.

A DHS spokesperson defended the deployments, saying that marshals have had earlier assignments to help hurricane reduction and that some have been briefly deployed to the border in 2019. U.S. flights would nonetheless be protected, the spokesperson mentioned.

The Washington Examiner first reported the marshals’ plan.

The tensions come because the Biden administration is making ready for the doable finish of a COVID-era border order, often called Title 42, which permits U.S. authorities to quickly expel migrants to Mexico or different international locations with out the possibility to hunt asylum.