The U.S. Travel Association is urging government officials not to reduce security at airports in favor of more agents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Washington D.C.-based non-profit travel advocacy group, which represents virtually all categories of the $2.5 trillion U.S. travel industry, issued a statement in response to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announcement that it will reassign agents from airports and other entry points to the southern border.
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“The administration rightly points out the importance of security, but we believe security priorities and economic priorities go hand in hand,” Tori Barnes, U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Policy, said in a statement. “In pursuing its objectives on the southern border, we urge the administration to keep other entry points appropriately staffed and effectively secured.”
Securing the U.S.-Mexico border has been one of the highest priority – and controversial – items on President Trump’s agenda.
Earlier this month, Customs and Border Protection already re-directed 750 agents from airports and other U.S. points of entry to the southern border.
And it’s having a clear domino effect, says one airport official.
“There’s a deployment to the southern border and that has reduced our staffing levels here at (Atlanta) Hartsfield-Jackson,” John Selden, general manager of the busiest airport in the U.S., told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And we are advocating through our Congressional delegation to hopefully get more staff here to balance it out throughout the country.”
The reduced staff has caused longer security lines, especially at international travel terminals, which is having its own trickle-down effect, Barnes said in her statement.
“Aside from concerns about migration and border security, it is an immutable fact: travel is trade, and the U.S. economy and jobs base enjoy many billions of dollars in beneficial impact from legitimate international business and leisure visitors to the United States,” she said. “Immigration and visitation are two separate points on the policy spectrum, each important in its own right. The American travel community stands ready to work with the administration to advance policies that are beneficial to both security and prosperity.”
