President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking Federal Air Marshals off domestic commercial flights to have them conduct welfare checks on border crossers and illegal aliens, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) said in congressional testimony on Tuesday.
In July, Breitbart News exclusively reported that Biden’s DHS had deployed Air Marshals to the southern border to escort border crossers and illegal aliens from processing facilities to Border Patrol custody before their release into American communities.
Van Drew, during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, said Biden’s DHS is still taking Air Marshals off flights to have them transport border crossers and illegal aliens, provide welfare checks on illegal aliens, and in some cases, do janitorial work.
“In an attempt to combat the crisis on the border, you have deployed highly-trained and highly-skilled Federal Air Marshals to perform non-law enforcement duties such as hospital watch, transportation, and welfare checks. There have even been reports that Air Marshals are performing janitorial duties,” Van Drew said:
DHS is removing hundreds of Air Marshals from the skies during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year even though you state that America’s aviation infrastructure is at a very high threat and is a target. [Emphasis added]
Furthermore, DHS is even classifying how many high-risk flights are not being covered due to your decision to deploy Air Marshals to the border. How do you justify this deployment? [Emphasis added]
In response, Mayorkas refuted claims that Air Marshals were doing janitorial work while being deployed at the southern border.
“Of course, it is false that they are deployed to the border to conduct janitorial services,” Mayorkas said. “We have contract personnel to do that.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, the Air Marshals are playing a small role in the Biden administration’s expansive Catch and Release network that has seen more than 1.4 million border crossers and illegal aliens released into the U.S. interior since February 2021.
Border crossers and illegal aliens are being released into American communities on a widespread parole program. One source previously told Breitbart News that parole is now so well-known among arrivals that many show up to the border asking for it.
That same source said that in Arizona, at least 9-in-10 border crossers and illegal aliens apprehended are being paroled into the U.S. interior.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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