Trump says he may deploy the National Guard to assist airport security

This article is reprinted from [Xinhua News Agency];

Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 25 (Reporters Yang Ling, Xiong Maoling) Following the 23rd dispatch of personnel from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau to participate in airport security work, U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 25th that he may redeploy the National Guard to provide “more assistance.”

That day, Trump posted on social media, blaming the chaotic scenes at airports across the United States on Democrats, and said, “I may mobilize the National Guard to provide more help.” He also accused Democrats of “sabotaging the already signed bill” and “refusing to reach any agreement.”

With the impasse of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “shutdown” continuing, the airport chaos caused by a shortage of security screening personnel has grown increasingly severe. Serious airport security screening line backlogs and flight delays have appeared in airports across the United States. Acting Administrator McNeil of the Transportation Security Administration said at a hearing held in the U.S. House of Representatives on the same day that during the “shutdown,” more than 480 employees of the agency had resigned. Nationwide, the leave rate among security screening personnel has risen from 4% before the “shutdown” to 11%, and at multiple airports, the leave rate of security screening personnel has even reached 40% to 50%. McNeil said that continued “shutdown” may force the agency to consider closing some airports until funding is restored.

The dispute between the two U.S. parties over the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill has lasted for several weeks. In January, federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis, the largest city in the state of Minnesota, shot and killed two American citizens in succession, triggering protests in many places across the country. Democrats strongly demanded reforms to the Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement actions.

Due to the continued “shutdown,” operations of agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have been seriously affected, and the impact on airport security screening systems in various places has been the most obvious.

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