Rosen to Oppose Trump TSA Administrator Nominee Following Failure to Directly Answer Questions on Cooperation with ICE

Last Week, Senator Rosen Pledged Not To Vote To Confirm David Cummins As TSA Administrator Unless Her Questions On TSA's Cooperation With ICE Were Answered

WASHINGTON, DC - Ahead of a confirmation vote, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is announcing she will vote against the nomination of David Cummins to be the next Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for his inability to answer her questions regarding TSA cooperation with ICE. Last week, Senator Rosen submitted a number of questions regarding what he would do as TSA Administrator when it came to cooperating with ICE at airports. Mr. Cummins failed to give any meaningful response or insight; instead, claiming he is "not privy to this information" even when the questions were about how he would address ICE operations at airports if confirmed.

"As ICE continues to run rampant and without accountability or oversight, I'm extremely concerned that they are carrying out misguided operations at airports that are increasing fear in communities and hurting our tourism industry. As the person nominated to run the federal agency in charge of security at our nation's airports, I asked David Cummins directly about the recent conduct of ICE agents at Harry Reid International Airport and asked him to commit to preventing such abuses in the future," said Senator Rosen. "Unfortunately, the disappointing responses Mr. Cummins provided were unserious and did not even attempt to answer my questions about how he would act if confirmed to the role. As a result, I will vote against David Cummins' nomination to be TSA Administrator."

Rosen's actions come in the immediate aftermath of an incident at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas where masked, plain-clothed ICE officers - without any identification and seemingly with the support of TSA - attempted to violently arrest an elderly man before running off following public intervention. It was later reported that the man had no outstanding warrants.

Senator Rosen is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over TSA. She has been adamant about the need for commonsense guardrails for ICE agents. Senator Rosen criticized Trump's decision to reverse the suspension of ICE traffic stops following two separate ICE killings during enforcement operations. In June, Senator Rosen voted against the ultra-partisan Republican budget, which gave ICE more funding without any guardrails or accountability mechanisms.

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