TSA is sending hundreds of workers, including air marshals, to the southern border

Immigrant children.
(Image credit: HERIKA MARTINEZ / Getty Images)

The Transportation Security Administration will deploy hundreds of employees to the southern U.S. border to help handle incoming migrants, reports CNN.

The TSA workers will include air marshals, per an internal email viewed by CNN, but the deployment will also include up to 175 law enforcement officials and 400 workers from Security Ops.

The deployment coincides with the beginning of summer travel season, and TSA acknowledged the restructuring would cause "some risk" in aviation security but said it was outweighed by an "immediate need" for workers at the border. In the email, TSA compared the deployment to the support given in the past to areas hit by hurricanes. While it's unclear exactly what duties the TSA employees would handle at the border, a source said they would be trained and designated as immigration officers to assist Customs and Border Protection officers.

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The deployments will not involve any uniformed airport screeners at the onset, and they are set to last between 45 and 60 days with possibility of extension. Read more at CNN.

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Marianne Dodson

Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.