The Air Marshal Association slammed federal law enforcement agents who plan to refuse orders to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border, accusing them of promoting an “insurrection” and calling for them to be “cut from government like a cancer.”
“It is unfortunate that some Federal Air Marshals would resort to incendiary, partisan, and insurrectionist rhetoric to avoid being deployed to an undesirable assignment,” the Air Marshal Association said in a statement issued following the Washington Examiner’s report on the planned boycott by dozens of Air Marshal National Council members.
The AMA, the largest labor organization for federal air marshals, went on to question the legitimacy of AMNC indirectly and said any unhappy air marshals should be removed from their government jobs.
“Fraudulent Air Marshal groups have formed that are espousing ‘mutiny,’ and advising [federal air marshals] to disobey orders to deploy to the border. These groups, and the individual agents that make them up, must be cut from government like a cancer,” the AMA wrote.
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“The AMA believes these individuals should be investigated as an insider threat, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the AMA continued. “There is no room in law enforcement for agents that lack integrity, promote insurrection, and fail to honor their oath of office.”
AMNC President David Londo told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that dozens of rank-and-file air marshals were going to refuse to deploy to the border on Dec. 7 and risk termination.
“You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of,” Londo said.
The AMA accused the disgruntled air marshals of promoting “insurrection.” An insurrectionist is defined as a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against a constituted authority.
Air marshals carry guns on flights; however, Londo did not disclose plans of a violent attack on the government during his conversation with the Washington Examiner.
“Obviously, we are not insurrectionists. That is an outrageous allegation that we will be taking up with our legal counsel,” Londo wrote in an email Thursday. “This press release is a desperate attempt for them to remain relevant.”
Londo is a former AMA delegate, and the council’s executive director, Sonya LaBosco, was a board member. Both left the AMA in 2018 and created the council.
“We left because we had serious concerns about the leadership and direction that group was going, adding that it has legal action against the AMA pending in Florida,” Londo wrote Thursday. “That organization has routinely defended TSA leadership in the past and, I believe, is working with them now, and this is another attempt to help TSA save face in the midst of this border scandal.”
AMA President John Casaretti denied Londo’s allegations in an email Thursday afternoon and said AMA had removed Labosco. Casaretti did not comment on Londo.
“The AMA is working with Congressional committees to undo the damage created by the incendiary rhetoric, and ensure the honorable service of Federal Air Marshals is not used a partisan tool to attack policy decisions,” Casaretti wrote.
“We are also collaborating with agency leadership to ensure no Federal Air Marshal blindly follows the illegal ‘mutiny’ being promoted, which would cause uninformed agents to needlessly lose their jobs,” Casaretti added.
The infighting between air marshal organizations reflects the growing tensions among the agency’s roughly 3,000 marshals over the Biden administration diverting them and other government workers from their jobs. The exact number of air marshals is classified for national security reasons. AMA represents nearly 70% of air marshals, according to Casaretti.
Air marshals fly on up to 8% of U.S. commercial flights. The deployments to the border have drawn it down to 1% of flights protected with federal agents on board, according to Londo.
One reason that some air marshals oppose the border mission is that they have been tasked with menial jobs, Londo said. The council has filed a request for an investigation with the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General and sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the concerns earlier this week.
Casaretti maintained that he had received very few complaints from employees about the deployment.
“Throughout the course of this entire deployment we have only received two specific complaints from members. Both members had family issues that complicated deployment, and these issues were addressed at the lowest levels by collaboration with the AMA, the FAM, and local managers,” Casaretti wrote. “The majority of those going to the borders are volunteering, and some agents have even volunteered for multiple tours.”
TSA has also rebutted the council’s claims.
“Federal Air Marshals are performing law enforcement support to the mission at the southwest border,” according to a TSA spokesman. “The TSA Federal Air Marshal Service is a highly valued member of the DHS law enforcement team and has an ever-expanding role within DHS, working closely with other U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to safeguard the nation’s transportation systems.”
Just this week, air marshals on the border were “heating up sandwiches,” driving immigrants in custody to the hospital and waiting inside for hours on hospital watch, and effectively babysitting adults who are already in confined spaces, Londo said.
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In mid-2021, the Federal Air Marshal Service asked for volunteers willing to go to the southern border for 30 days and help process the growing number of illegal immigrants in custody. Earlier this month, the government changed course and announced that the deployments would become mandatory.
The air marshals fought the order but only got the length of the deployment dropped from 30 days to 21 days. The DHS ordered a minimum of 150 more air marshals to the border on Dec. 7. At present, dozens plan to refuse and are preparing to be fired for taking the stand.
Londo said that because marshals fly together, removing 150 from operations would not allow the groups to staff as many flights adequately.
The AMA did not return a request for comment.
