The United States Travel Agency (USTA) has highlighted the problem of under-staffing at US airports due to the deployment of US customs staffing agents to the Mexican border by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
It may be recalled that there is an ongoing US-Mexico border crisis because the US President has threatened to close the US-Mexico border if Mexico doesn’t stop the influx of migrants to the US. The US President is reportedly not so happy with the US Department of Homeland for its stance on allowing too many migrants to the US.
The USTA has urged CBP, the agency responsible for deploying US customs staffing to the Mexican border not to under-staff US airports as this is resulting in huge wait times at International arrival points in the US.
Tori Banes, US Travel Executive Vice President for public affairs and policy said “In pursuing its objectives on the southern border, we urge the administration to keep other entry points appropriately staffed and effectively secured”.
Meanwhile one agent from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport told the Atlanta Journal that he has reached out to the Congress about the current understaffing problem at the airport due to the reassignment of agents to the US-Mexico border, and he felt that there is a need for more customs staffing across all US airports to balance the current deficiency.
The CBP in an email has confirmed that no agents from Atlanta Field Office are currently being deployed to the Southern border.
It all began on April 1st when former Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ordered CBP to deploy more agents to the US-Mexico border to control the influx of foreign migrants from Mexico into the US.
In a statement issued by CBP Friday it maintained that it would be sending more CBP officers on temporary assignments to the southern border from the airports and northern border locations to address the current crisis, it clarified that the current CBP officers will be replaced with its new selected officers to support the border Patrol along the South West.
