Ted Cruz Alarmed by TSA Change That May Allow 'Terrorists' on Planes

Senator Ted Cruz warned about a Transportation Security Administration change that he believes could make it easier for "terrorists" to board planes.

Cruz, a Texas Republican, on Wednesday penned a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas raising concerns about the TSA allegedly allowing migrants who do not have an ID to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Control's "CBP One" mobile application to board planes. He questioned whether the verification process for the app was thorough enough to detect individuals who may pose a national security risk.

He said the verification process "effectively takes illegal aliens at their word on their names and dates of birth" rather than using documents from migrants' home countries. Therefore, Cruz wrote, the change could potentially allow "terrorists, cartel members, and other criminals to assume new identities, obtain DHS-issued fake IDs, and fly out of U.S. airports."

"In effect, TSA is applying one standard for verifying the identities of
American citizens, and another, weaker standard for 'verifying' the identities of illegal aliens. This is alarming," Cruz wrote.

A spokesperson for the TSA told Newsweek on Friday that the agency "verifies the identity of every traveler before they are permitted to enter the secure area of an airport."

"TSA does not only rely on the information in identification documents presented for inspection. It is used by TSA to initiate a thorough, multi-source identity verification process, culminating with enhanced screening at the checkpoints before an individual is allowed into the secure area of an airport," the spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Any noncitizen who poses a threat to public safety or national security is detained by the DHS or turned over to another agency and is not permitted into the secure areas of an airport, the spokesperson said.

A DHS spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement that border security efforts "include various screening and vetting processes that work to detect and prevent individuals who pose national security or public safety risks from entering the United States."

Newsweek also reached out to the CBP for comment via email.

Cruz's letter comes as the government grapples with an influx of migrants arriving at the United States-Mexico border. There were more than 2.475 million encounters at the southern border in the fiscal year 2023, an increase from about 2.378 million in fiscal year 2022, according to CBP data.

Republicans have blamed President Joe Biden's border security policies for causing the influx, though many experts point to external factors such as political instability or economics as driving migration. The White House has been engaged with congressional leaders to broker a deal to address border security, with negotiators hoping an agreement can be reached early next year.

Cruz said that the app allows immigrants to submit biometric and biographical information, including a live facial photograph, their name, and date of birth, prior to arriving at a port of entry. He wrote that CBP will "routinely parole" migrants into the U.S. under their provided name and date of birth if they do not have a passport or other form of identification when they arrive. However, he warned that CBP has "limited ability to verify identities" of the migrants.