Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed the head of the Transportation Security Administration about the number of immigrants released by Border Patrol who have used arrest warrants as a form of ID to board airplanes.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske said under 1,000 people had used arrest warrants or deportation orders in order to travel.
"How does this policy comport with 13 USC 1325, which criminalizes improper entry into the United States by an alien?" Hawley asked.
"These individuals that have these arrest warrants, those arrest warrants were issued by the Border Patrol or a Customs officer. They serve as a beginning to our identity verification process. So you can't walk up to a checkpoint, wave that form, and then you can go right through into screening. We go through a process to verify you are the person you claim to be," said Pekoske.
"We aren't looking at whether a person is legal or illegal in the country. Our function is to..." Pekoske began to explain.
"Why not?" Hawley interjected.
"Because our role is to make sure that people that might pose a risk to transportation, that's significant enough to either require enhanced screening or to not allow them to fly," Pekoske replied, adding American citizens break the law and fly all the time.
"We look for things that related to transportation security," he said.
The head of TSA admits the Biden Administration has let nearly 1000 illegal aliens use arrest warrants as ID to get on planes this year. Think about that while you wait in line at the airport pic.twitter.com/rNIiGa8yBu
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 21, 2022