The Transportation Security Administration will send more airport screeners south to the Mexican border.
During a hearing, House Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings said the TSA has already reassigned 200 screeners and supervisors, as well as 172 air marshals to border duties, and nearly 300 more are expected to go.
Cummings acknnowledged more are needed to help stem the ‘crisis.’
TSA personnel volunteer for border duty and are working on 45-day rotations, said TSA spokesman James Gregory.
"The key is that we are managing voluntary deployments strategically to ensure no one airport or location is overly burdened," Gregory said.
However it has still raised concerns over how well airports will cope with the shortfall of screeners as the busy summer travel season kicks in.
Even with the ongoing grounding of the 737 Max aircraft, it is expected to be one of the busiest summers ever.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske was also grilled at the hearing over the agency’s fpast ailings.
The Homeland Security Department inspector general and the Government Accountability Office said security screening flaws highlighted in the past during covert tests still haven’t been rectified even though some date back several years.
