Miami airport grounds Kristi Noem government shutdown video
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A monitor displays Real ID information with Kristi Noem at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York on Aug. 19. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Miami International Airport is joining several others across the country in declining to show a video of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming the ongoing government shutdown on congressional Democrats.
Why it matters: The Trump administration released the video for airing at TSA checkpoints earlier this month, but some transportation authorities have shelved the message out of concern it violates the Hatch Act.
- The 1939 law aims to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.
Worth noting: Airports do regularly display videos from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, though those typically focus on safety or travel procedures, not partisan messaging, The Washington Post reports.
Driving the news: Major airports and the officials that oversee their operations — including in Seattle, Portland, Charlotte, Las Vegas and other cities — confirmed to Axios they will not display Noem's video.
- Greg Chin, spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, said MIA is not playing the video but will continue to play TSA's Real ID awareness video "to be consistent with Miami-Dade County policy regarding messaging within the MIA terminal."
- Chin says the Real ID video "provides passengers with important, time-sensitive information directly related to their travel experience and federal requirements."
- The video is not playing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport either, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios, saying "our advertising policy does not permit political messaging to be displayed in our facility."
Catch up quick: Noem's video says that it is the Transportation Security Administration's priority to ensure efficient, pleasant and safe travel — but "Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government."
- Noem continues, "because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay."
- She then expresses "hope" that "Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government."
What they're saying: "[I]t's unfortunate our workforce has been put in this position due to political gamesmanship," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that largely echoed Noem's message.
- McLaughlin did not directly respond to Axios' request for a response to local authorities opting against showing the video.
State of play: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport spokesperson Jon Brodsky confirmed to Axios that the airport "declined" to share the video, saying "airport policy" does "not permit political content."
- A representative of Charlotte Douglas International Airport similarly referenced airport policy for digital content, as well as North Carolina municipal law, saying in a statement to Axios that those restrictions "do not permit the referenced video."
- Additionally, the spokesperson added that TSA does not own monitors at the airport's checkpoints.
- The Philadelphia International Airport "does not accept or display materials that are political in nature in its facilities," spokesperson Heather Redfern told Axios' Isaac Avilucea.
A spokesperson for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), which operates Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Niagara Falls International Airport, also confirmed it would not air the video on airport-controlled screens.
- "The NFTA's long standing policy and codified regulations pertaining to public service advertising prohibit politically partisan messaging in its facilities," a spokesperson said.
- Westchester County, New York, Executive Ken Jenkins slammed the DHS request to display the video as "inappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation's top public officials." He said the county's airport would not play it.
- A Port of Seattle spokesperson also said it would not play the video at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport "due to the political nature of the content."
The big picture: Staffing shortages have plagued airports amid the shutdown. Under a lapse in appropriations, thousands of TSA workers and air traffic controllers must work without pay, per agency shutdown procedures.