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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing the nation’s key homeland security employees today offered strong support for a call from Southern California members of Congress for additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staffing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the nation’s third busiest.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said the letter from 10 House members “highlights the drastic impact of inadequate CBP staffing on the movement of passengers through LAX.” Some passengers have to remain on their planes until processing lanes are available. Waits of up to three hours for international passengers are commonplace there.

NTEU represents the entire 26,000-employee CBP workforce and has long been the leader in pressing for adequate agency staffing for both its national security and critical trade-related missions.

Kelley previously has warned Congress that CBP overall does not have the manpower to ensure timely passenger processing, fully enforce trade laws, and collect trade revenue, while also fulfilling its primary mission of keeping our nation safe.

“Ultimately, no organizational reconfigurations, inspection time limits, or changes in methodology can cover up a lack of staffing,” she said. “It is time for Congress to step up and provide frontline CBP officers with the staffing and resources to effectively protect our borders and ports of entry, while facilitating trade and travel to the U.S.”

The congressional letter to CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin took note of budget constraints facing the agency, but warned of the likely serious economic impact of the Los Angeles area of lengthy delays in the airport passenger processing operations, particularly as new, larger aircraft come into service on international routes.

These 10 House members sent the letter to Bersin: Reps. Janice Hahn, who was instrumental in circulating it; Laura Richardson, Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, Howard Berman, Judy Chu, Grace Napolitano, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman. All are Democrats.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.