Kansas senator aims to block airlines from letting migrants fly via controversial app at DC airport

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, is introducing legislation that would strip airlines of their gate access at one of the country’s top airports if they allow migrants onto their planes who have been verified using the controversial CBP One app.

Marshall’s End Aerial Invasion Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, would ban airlines from operating at Reagan Washington National Airport if they "transport any alien using the CBP One Mobile Application 15 for the purposes of identification."

The CBP One app was first introduced during the Trump administration for cross-border transit at ports, but it was expanded last year by the Biden administration to allow migrants seeking to enter the U.S. to upload data and make appointments to be processed into the U.S.

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A migrant uses the CBP One application during an Al Otro Lado training session in Tijuana, Mexico, on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. (Photographer: Sandy Huffaker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to DHS, up to 1,450 migrants are currently allowed into the country each day at ports of entry via parole. Separately, the CBP One app is used to bring in up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela each month via a separate parole process. 

Republicans have accused the administration of abusing the parole law, which the administration has denied. They have also raised concerns about the use of the CBP One app to verify documentation when boarding airplanes.

CBP has stressed that those who have entered the country are vetted using biographic and biometric information, and those who are paroled have already provided a photograph. Parolees are not granted an automatic path to citizenship, and Republicans have said that the CBP One app is being used to wave in otherwise illegal immigrants. Many have expressed skepticism about how the verification can match that of those going through normal processes. 

"The crisis at our southern border worsens every day, threatening our sovereignty and compromising our national security," Marshall said in a statement. "Americans' safety will always come first; that is why this legislation is so important."

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The bill states that, "An air carrier may not operate an aircraft in air transportation between Reagan Washington National Airport and any other airport if the air carrier has provided, or facilitated the provision of, transportation of any alien using the CBP One Mobile Application for the purposes of identification.’’

"Allowing illegal migrants to enter our country and then board airlines free of charge without proper I.D. or vetting is unbelievable," he said, arguing that the administration is undermining national security.

The administration has pushed back on criticism of the use of the app, saying that those without ID go through a "stringent identity matching process" and additional screening, and are denied boarding if they cannot be identified. Those who pose threats to security or public safety are turned over for investigation.

"The Department of Homeland Security works to detect and prevent individuals who pose national security or public safety risks from entering the secure areas of an airport to depart on a domestic flight or entering the United States upon arrival from another country," a spokesman told Fox News Digital last month. "Recent reports that noncitizens have lower security bars for traveling on domestic flights are false. Noncitizens without acceptable forms of ID must undergo additional, more robust screenings to fly within the United States." 

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"The use of CBP One to verify noncitizens’ identities allows TSA to verify that individuals are who they claim to be and that they have been vetted and processed by DHS into an appropriate immigration pathway. These individuals are most commonly awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge and have a legal basis to remain in the United States for that hearing.  Collaboration between CBP and TSA on this enhanced security program began in 2021." 

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The bill comes as the Biden administration’s policies around immigration have faced additional scrutiny as the border crisis becomes a top election-year issue. Both former President Trump and President Biden visited the southern border earlier this month.