🔗 Share this article

A number of major international air travel hubs across the America, including Phoenix's Sky Harbor, Harry Reid International, Seattle–Tacoma, and Charlotte Douglas in North Carolina, have opted to restrict a video from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that attributes responsibility to Democrats for the current federal government shutdown from being shown at their security checkpoints.

Legal Concerns Cited by Aviation Authorities

Airport officials in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Westchester, New York have declined to display the video content at screening areas, stating that the clearly partisan content could breach state and federal law, including the Hatch Act of 1939, which forbids government workers from participating in partisan political activity.

“Democratic legislators refuse to support funding for the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our Transportation Security Administration staff are unpaid,” Noem stated in the video.

The Port of Portland Reaction

The Portland airport authority explained that it “did not consent to airing the PSA in its current form, as we believe the federal law explicitly forbids use of public assets for political aims.” It added that state regulations in Oregon prohibits government staff from supporting or criticizing any party affiliation and that consenting to play this content would violate state law.

Las Vegas Statement

The Harry Reid International Airport also declined to show the security announcement on similar grounds, noting in a release that “its content contained partisan statements that was inconsistent with the neutral, educational nature of the public service announcements typically displayed at checkpoint screens” and also cited the federal act.

Understanding the Hatch Act

The Hatch Act of 1939 is a U.S. law that forbids political activities by federal employees to guarantee that public services stay non-partisan.

Additional Authority Rejections

• Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport explained that it “refused to display the PSA” to remain “consistent with airport policy,” which prohibits partisan material.
• The Port of Seattle, which manages Sea-Tac airport, also refused, pointing to “the partisan tone of the content.”
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport clarified that state local regulations and the airport’s policy for digital content “do not permit the referenced video.” The authority also noted that the TSA lacks ownership of any monitors at its checkpoints and that its limited display monitors are reserved for directions, flight updates, and revenue-generating services.

Westchester Objection

Westchester County, in a public comment, described the PSA “unacceptable, improper, and out of line with the standards we expect from our nation’s top public officials.”

“The PSA politicizes the effects of a government closure on TSA operations,” the county leader stated, noting that the tone was “unnecessarily alarmist” and “erodes customer confidence.”

DHS Reply

A Department of Homeland Security official, Tricia McLaughlin, repeated Noem’s wording to blame “partisan tactics” in a statement, adding that “Democratic leaders will soon realize the significance of opening the federal government.”

Cross-Party Calls for Solution

The Port of Seattle said that it continued to “encourage bipartisan efforts to end the government shutdown” and was striving to identify methods to support federal employees unpaid during the shutdown.