WASHINGTON, DC - The next time you have to take your shoes off or pour out your bottled water to fly to Disney World, take solace in the fact that if you are in the country illegally, you probably don’t have to endure such humiliation.
The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (DHS-IG) has released a report that has revealed a concerning issue. It concludes that noncitizens without TSA-acceptable identification are allowed to board domestic flights, a finding that raises serious security concerns.
According to that report, “noncitizens without Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-acceptable identification are allowed to board domestic flights.” Try doing that without having a driver’s license, passport, or state-issued identification card. Oh, and as of May 7, 2025, you must be “Real ID” compliant to board domestic flights or access certain federal facilities. Yes, the benefits of being an illegal alien.
While the TSA requires 'noncitizens' to undergo vetting and additional screening, including pat-downs, the IG’s report highlights a critical flaw. It states that these procedures do not fully eliminate the risk of noncitizens who may pose a threat to fellow passengers boarding domestic flights, underscoring the urgent need for improved security measures.
Apparently, we have learned nothing from the nineteen terrorists that took down four airliners on September 11, 2001, and collapsed the Twin Towers, crashed into the Pentagon, and though for the heroism of its passengers, would have seen Flight 93 crash into either the White House or US Capitol building. And here you thought Boeing’s DEI stuff posed the biggest threat to the flying public.
Due to the lax procedures at US borders, “CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country.”
The DHS-IG’s report identified many problems with security processes, which begin at US borders. In FY 2023, “officers encountered more than 3.2 million noncitizens nationwide…including more than 2.4 million encounters at the Southwest border.” The processes conducted by officers include:
- review noncitizens’ identification and travel documents, if available;
- obtain noncitizens’ biographical and biometric information and enter it into DHS databases;
- interview non-citizens;
- collect DNA samples; and
- query law enforcement and immigration databases for derogatory information using the biographical and biometric data obtained
Even if CBP or ICE inspection yields “derogatory information,” “noncitizens may be (1) deemed inadmissible and refused admission, (2) detained, or (3) released into the United States pending immigration hearings or review of their admissibility claims by an immigration judge.” [emphasis added]
Typically, if illegals don’t have identification, such as an unexpired visa or passport, a reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or document of identity and nationality, “immigration officers may deny their admission and subject them to removal from the United States without further hearing or review.” [emphasis added]
However, if they say the magic word…”asylum”...they will be referred for a “credible fear” interview. If claims are deemed credible, they are released into the United States.
Illegals can also be paroled for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.” If an illegal “does not have identification, CBP and ICE immigration officers accept noncitizens’ self-reported biographical information and use this information to populate the forms. They also collect photographs and fingerprints. Additionally, a DNA sample may be collected from noncitizens over 14 years old.”
The DHS-IG then made a key observation: “CBP and ICE Have Policies and Procedures for Screening Noncitizens, but Neither Component Knows How Many Noncitizens Without Identification Documents Are Released Into the Country.”
The report noted that “neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported biographic information was accepted.”
While immigration officers “acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without identification into the country,” neither agency conducted “a comprehensive risk assessment for those noncitizens to assess the level of risk these individuals present and developed corresponding mitigation measures.”
That brings us to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). American citizens and foreign travelers are required to provide a TSA-acceptable form of ID before boarding aircraft in the US. This includes government-issued driver’s licenses, passports, military IDs, work permits, and resident ID cards.
There are limited exceptions, and for those without acceptable identification, TSA officers must:
- inspect two other forms of identification, one of which must have the individual’s name and other information such as photo, address, phone number, social security number, or date of birth;
- Obtain the individual’s name, address, signature, and date from the TSA Form 415–Certification of Identity completed by the individual; and
- contact the TSA’s National Transportation Vetting Center to validate the individual’s identity using the information recorded on TSA Form 415.
If non-citizens don’t have acceptable identification, the TSA uses DHS-issued documents [redacted] to initiate procedures to validate “that the individual presenting the document is the same individual previously processed by DHS.” The report read that this can be initiated by using the Biden-Harris-Mayorkas brainchild, the CBP One app, or by contacting the National Transportation Vetting Center.
If a match is made between CBP One and the NTVC, further screening is conducted using Advanced Imaging Technology and Explosive Trace Detection, or pat downs before the illegal is allowed into the sterile area (gates) and eventually allowed to board the aircraft. The DHS-IG report says, "a noncitizen whose identity cannot be validated must be denied entry to the airport’s sterile area.”
“Because of CBP’s and ICE’s process for inspecting and releasing noncitizens, TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights.
[redacted]
“According to the TSA Administrator, TSA relies on CBP and ICE officers to collect biographical and biometric information on noncitizens and conduct the requisite background checks to determine if the individual poses a threat to the United States.”
Continuing, the DHS-IG report read:
“TSA’s Requirements and Capabilities Analysis office previously conducted an assessment that emphasized the risk of noncitizens whose identities cannot be confirmed,” addressing a June 2021 analysis that identified using the CBP One app as a screening tool.
That assessment was redacted; however, its existence would appear to flag some serious national security concerns posed by using the CBP One app.
The report further questioned the inherent weaknesses in CBP’s screening process, which allowed “high-risk individuals into the country.”
In one case, a “noncitizen” released into the U.S. later appeared on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist. Law Enforcement Today recently reported about that individual. Mohammad Kharwin, an Afghani. At least two other individuals were identified by the DHS-IG who were paroled into the United States “that may have posed a threat to national security and the safety of local communities.”
The DHS-IG also identified a weakness in the DHS’s biometrics system, the Automated Biometric Identification System, which “could not access all data from Federal partners to ensure complete screening and vetting of noncitizens seeking admission into the United States.”
Moreover, the DHS-IG “determined that DBP could not access all biometric data held in the Department of Defense’s Automated Biometric Identification System, which contains the Department of Defense’s Biometrically Enabled Watchlist.”
The DHS-IG made a series of recommendations, which included:
- “We recommend that the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner of CBPS conduct a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with releasing noncitizens into the country without identification and develop end implement policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.”
- “We recommend that the Director of ICE conduct a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with releasing noncitizens without identification from ICE custody and develop and implement policies and procedures to mitigate those risks.”
- “We recommend that the TSA administrator use the results of the Requirements and Capabilities Analysis office’s updated CBP One risk assessment to develop and implement policy and procedural changes to mitigate risks [redacted].
DHS offered a myriad of excuses for not complying with some of the report's recommendations. For example, they cited a “lack of funding” to provide adequate “bed space,” a self-inflicted problem exacerbated by the fact that since January 20, 2021, the border has been essentially wide-open after Biden dismantled all of President Trump’s border policies.
CBP contends that its facilities are intended for “short-term” detention and that “they cannot legally hold noncitizens as the law allows, even to mitigate potential risks associated with releasing noncitizens without identification documents.”
The simple solution would appear to be to reimplement the “return to Mexico” policy implemented under Trump and resume constructing the border wall.
The DHS-IG made several recommendations, including strengthening ICE's risk classification process because, under current procedures, “it cannot ensure its offices are making informed, consistent, and transparent custody decisions that prevent release of noncitizens who pose a potential risk to public safety.”
Regarding the TSA, the DHS-IG wrote, "TSA did not provide us with evidence of this review and its conclusions to determine that additional screening was sufficient and that policy and procedural changes were not needed to mitigate risks.”
The DHS-IG wrote that the TSA needs to provide “evidence supporting its conclusion that additional screening of noncitizens without identification is sufficient to reduce the security risk these individuals pose to an acceptable level.”
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