Guest post by Kristinn Taylor

The Obama administration is allowing illegal aliens to bypass normal identification procedures and board passenger jets without required IDs according to a letter sent to Congress by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The TSA letter shows statements made to the media and posted on Twitter by the official account of the TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein denying the practice were misleading at best.

.@BreitbartNews @DRUDGE_REPORT story on @TSA is completely wrong. Never contacted us for a statement and/or info. before publishing story. — Ross Feinstein (@TSAmedia_RossF) July 11, 2014

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“You can’t fly by just showing a “Notice to Appear.””

You can’t fly by just showing a “Notice to Appear.” — Ross Feinstein (@TSAmedia_RossF) July 11, 2014

@AirlineFlyer @NonRevAdventure Correct. But you can’t just show your “notice to appear.” — Ross Feinstein (@TSAmedia_RossF) July 11, 2014

The letter stamped August 7, 2014 was sent to Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX) who is a member of the Border Security Caucus in response to a query after Breitbart’s Brandon Darby reported on July 11 about claims by officials with the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) that illegal aliens were being let on planes by TSA with only a Notice to Appear issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Breitbart’s article was headlined, “Exclusive: TSA Allowing Illegals to Fly Without Verifiable ID Says Border Patrol Union.

The ‘verifiable ID’ part is key.

The Notice to Appear form, aka an I-862 form, bears no photograph or any means of confirming the identification of the bearer. The NBPC Local 2455 Spokesman Hector Garza told Breitbart the I-862 has no security features such as watermarking to prevent copies or forgeries from being used to dupe TSA agents.

“This just adds insult to injury. Not only are we releasing unknown illegal aliens onto American streets, but we are allowing them to travel commercially using paperwork that could easily be reproduced or manipulated on any home computer. The Notice to Appear form has no photo, anyone can make one and manipulate one. They do not have any security features, no watermark, nothing. They are simply printed on standard copy paper based on the information the illegal alien says is the truth. “We do not know who these people are, we often have to solely rely on who they say they are, where they say they came from, and the history they say they have. We know nothing about most of them, ICE releases them into the American public, and now they are boarding aircraft at will with a simple paper document that anyone can easily alter or reproduce themselves.””

On July 17, TSA told Texas TV station KGBT the NBPC charges were false.

“Action 4 News called and emailed the Transportation Security Administration or TSA. The spokesman told Action 4 News “these reports are false. A notice to appear is not an acceptable form of I.D. at the T.S.A checkpoint.””

Fox News’ Todd Starnes, in an article published July 22, reports the TSA told him the NBPC charges are false.

“Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, confirmed through an unnamed high-level source within the Department of Homeland Security that illegals were allowed to board jetliners in El Paso without identification. “TSA is letting them go around security,” the source told Judicial Watch. “No picture ID, just a slip of paper.” “Not true, the TSA tells me. ““These reports are false,” the TSA said in a statement. “A Notice to Appear, issued by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), is not an acceptable form of ID at the TSA checkpoint.”

“All travelers must have a valid form of identification, the TSA stressed. ““For Mexican nationals without a passport who are returning to Mexico, they can be issued a Certificate of Presumption of Nationality of Mexico (CPNM) by the Government of Mexico,” the TSA statement read. “TSA has established a robust verification process of a CPNM, which includes a photograph. At the checkpoint, this documentation will be authenticated by TSA’s Identity Verification Call Center (IVCC), the same center that processes U.S. travelers who may have lost, or forgotten, their government-issued ID. Once this process is complete, the passenger will undergo enhanced TSA screening.””

TSA gave a similar statement to KGNS TV reported July 14.

“”These reports are false. A Notice to Appear, issued by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), is not an acceptable form of ID at the TSA checkpoint,” said the statement. “”At the checkpoint, this documentation will be authenticated by TSA’s Identity Verification Call Center (IVCC), the same center that processes U.S. travelers who may have lost, or forgotten, their government-issued ID.””

TSA gave the public a false impression. What TSA is saying is that the Notice to Appear is accepted when verified by ICE. But the verification is that a slip of paper was issued by ICE to an illegal alien whose identity cannot be verified by ICE. The illegal alien can give any name they want to ICE and be given a Notice to Appear. They themselves can be an undocumented terrorist or they can give or sell the I-862 form to a drug cartel or terrorist group so that they can penetrate the country beyond the border area.

The TSA letter to Rep. Marchant states:

…” If a passenger does not have an acceptable form of identification, then the passenger is allowed to present two other forms of identification. One of the two forms of identification must bear the individual’s name and other identifying information such as photo, address, phone number, social security number, or date of birth. TSA may assess a variety of government issued documents to establish passenger identity. The I-862 form may be used along with another form of identification in this instance. As part of the issuance process for Form I-862, the person undergoes a biographic systems check, and a biometric systems check against both the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the Automated Biometric Identification System prior to the issuance of Form I-862. TSA needs to be able to assess a wide range of information proffered by a passenger in order to investigate the passenger’s identity and make sure that watchlist matching has occurred.” “If a passenger can only present a Form I-862, TSA will attempt to establish the passenger’s identity through DHS partner Components, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If other DHS Components are able to provide corroborating information (such as that the I-862 was issued to an individual with the name provided) to permit TSA to verify an individual’s identity when taken together with all other information available, the passenger is permitted into the screening checkpoint to undergo screening. If unable to verify the passenger’s identity, TSA will deny access to the screeningcheckpoint. “If either of the two alternate identity verification procedures described above is used, the passenger will receive additional screening of their person and accessible property to ensure he or she is not carrying prohibited items and does not represent a security threat to an aircraft. Additional screening includes a pat-down and explosives detection screening of accessible property. The passenger will only be allowed into the sterile area after successfully undergoing screening at the checkpoint.”

The issue arose this summer as tens of thousands of illegal aliens, mainly female headed families and unaccompanied teens and children from Central America, swarmed the Texas border with Mexico to take advantage of a perceived amnesty by the Obama administration.

Previously: Illegal Immigrants Reportedly Allowed to Fly Commercially With No ID

