Union Suit Claims Trump-Airport Security Rule Ousted Immigrant Workers

The Service Employees International Union has sued the Trump administration over a new security clearance policy for immigrants working at airports. 

The lawsuit against Customs and Border Protection is the second filed by the powerful union against the Trump administration in the same week. 

The SEIU is joined by four former employees of Logan International Airport in Boston, who say they lost their jobs because of the policy. 

The CBP adopted new guidelines last year that determined asylum applicants and recipients of Temporary Protected Status cannot qualify for security badges to access certain restricted areas at airports. 

The previous policy made federal work permits for immigrants suffice to get a security badge–or Customs access seals–to have unaccompanied access to CBP security areas, such as airport inspection services areas where international flight passengers and their baggage are processed. 

Lawful permanent residents and those already granted asylum are still eligible for access under the new policy, but those seeking contingent protections, such as TPS holders or current asylum applicants, are not eligible.

“These actions constitute a nationwide assault on immigrant airport workers. Defendants have been revoking and declining to renew Customs seals at international airports across the country,” stated the SEIU complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 

Plaintiffs contend the new policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act by not providing an adequate explanation. 

The policy change makes airports safer, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. 

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security are committed to safeguarding national security, especially in secure airport environments,” a DHS spokesperson said in an email to The Daily Signal. 

“In accordance with federal law, CBP interpreted ‘authorized residency’ to mean exactly what it says: legally living in the United States,” the DHS spokesperson continued.

“This guidance ensures that only individuals lawfully present in the United States are given official government credentials and granted unescorted access to secure airport areas. DHS and CBP stand by their responsibility to uphold national security.” 

The lawsuit says that other airports are being affected, including San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and Orlando International Airport.

On Thursday, in a separate case, the SEIU sued the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over its efforts to roll back the EPA endangerment finding, claiming the rollback threatens public health and safety.

Last April, the SEIU joined other unions that sued the Trump administration over efforts to dismantle the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The SEIU was also part of a coalition of unions that sued last year to block President Donald Trump’s executive order that would weaken federal unions.

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