00:00Good afternoon. My name is Steve Tabor and I'm the TSA Federal Security Director here at the
00:11Miami International Airport. Under the first year of Secretary Noem's leadership, the Department of
00:17Homeland Security and the TSA has been focusing on delivering the golden age of travel promised
00:23by President Trump. Travelers are seeing the results firsthand. Families are able to visit
00:29the airport, keep their shoes on, families stay together in the family-friendly lanes,
00:33and our military members are going through the checkpoints in a quicker and easier manner than
00:39ever before. With historic events ahead in 2026, including the FIFA World Cup, the America 250
00:46celebration, and the TSA's 25th anniversary, the year ahead will be a defining one for all of the
00:53men and women who work hard to keep our skies safe. Secretary Noem has exciting plans for how the TSA
00:58will rise to the occasion. And we're thrilled to have her here in Miami and the great state of
01:03Florida to share those ideas. So on behalf of Administrator Ha McNeil, myself, Federal Air Marshal
01:10Special Agent in Charge Adam Nakai, and the over 1,700 employees of the TSA here in Miami,
01:16I'd like to welcome the 8th United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
01:20Well, thank you, Steve. And thank you, everybody, for being here today. And I want to thank David for
01:28his leadership as well. I want to recognize the outstanding individuals behind me and thank them
01:33for their service. These TSA security officers do hard work every single day to make sure that
01:39when people are flying and crossing our country and traveling to other countries, that they can do so
01:44safely. But they also can do so in an environment that is convenient and efficient and friendly.
01:51And the individuals behind us are a prime example of doing that job and doing that work every day
01:56and doing it with excellence. We're here at the Miami International Airport to talk about two different
02:00things. We want to talk about the investment that is being made in security, but also to talk about
02:06what they have accomplished as far as making America safe again. Under President Trump's leadership,
02:12TSA has undertaken a large role in making sure that we're going after criminals, terrorists,
02:19and drug trafficking that could happen over our skies and through our flights that go across our
02:24country, but internationally each and every day. I want to talk about some of the results that
02:28they've had over the last year and highlight the work that is so important that our security
02:33checkpoints interdict everyday individuals that are dangerous, but also why these technology
02:39upgrades that we'll be investing in are so important to the future. We are working and what has
02:45happened here at this airport is that over the last year they have prevented over 10,000 individuals
02:51from traveling that had ties to narco terrorism. 85,000 individuals that had similar ties to terrorists
02:59and to terrorists on the watch list in the United States. Miami has a human trafficking unit that has done
03:05over 2200 inspections over the last year and made 24 child exploitation arrests and then also took 60
03:14adverse actions in order to revoke over 90 passport revocations. It's incredible the work that they have
03:21done to keep people safe, which is the mission that the Department of Homeland Security seeks to do
03:26every single day. In fact, this human trafficking unit also removed 85 different firearms, 82 of them
03:33which were loaded at the time that they removed them. The tactical response team did over 2089
03:40inspections, took 71 adverse actions, and had 22 different nominations to the terrorist screening data
03:47set, which is so important for us to be able to work from in order to keep terrorists out of our country
03:53or remove them when necessary. They interrupted multiple individuals that were suspected of espionage
04:01and tech acquisition, which is so important to protecting our country in the future.
04:05And the Port Operations Command Center, the regional carrier liaison group,
04:09they denied boarding to nine different individuals that were on our suspected and terrorist screened
04:16database that is so important to keeping individuals with ties to terrorism around the world
04:21off of our airlines and out of our transportation networks. As you can see, what happens here
04:27at the Miami International Airport is incredibly important to the security of the United States
04:31of America. This is one of the busiest airports in the world. In fact, under Steve's leadership and
04:37David's leadership, they have brought in not just the golden age of travel, but they've also
04:42incredibly focused on keeping that travel secure and making sure that it focuses on hospitality as well.
04:49We have over 1,700 TSA employees here. They average 70,000 passengers per day, but just recently broke
04:57their all-time record of passengers screened at close to 100,000 people on January 4th of 2026. In fact,
05:05in 2025, 25 million people went through this airport. They're now undertaking a nine billion dollar
05:12modernization plan. They're investing in technology to make it more efficient for passengers to go through
05:18their checkpoints and to do so in a way that makes the experience pleasant for them as they travel
05:23with their families and their friends. TSA is putting a hundred million dollars into that investment,
05:29but just recently we've also announced that we will be spending another one billion dollars
05:33in technology upgrades across the country in our airports to partner with them on what they can do
05:39to keep Americans safe. We'll be increasing our canine presence with teams that will deploy all across
05:44the country. Computed tomography and enhanced imaging technology. In fact, here, Concourse D at the Miami
05:51airport is a state-of-the-art concourse that is allowing passengers to get screened over 30 percent
05:57faster. They're using an automated return system that's allowing 500 different bins per hour to be
06:02returned automatically, saving the passengers time so they can get to their gates and get on their flights
06:08quickly. There's cross-screening lanes that have been invested in and that's allowing multiple
06:13passengers to screen their baggage at one time so the process can go quicker. They're rolling out
06:18bulk resolution tech, making the possibility for liquids and more personal items to go on airplanes
06:24with individuals as long as they are deemed safe. They're implementing biometric gates and will be
06:29implementing also TSA touchless pre-check ID and making targeted upgrades at the busiest airports.
06:37With these security upgrades, it'll be invested in not just here at Miami,
06:41but across the country at those busiest airports. That billion dollars will make sure that we continue
06:47to keep America safe, but even those who travel into our country and visit us that they will continue
06:52to be safe as they do that. We have big events coming up. We have the FIFA World Cup coming up
06:59this year and then also we'll focus on the Olympics. There's many individuals from many countries that will
07:05be coming to visit us, enjoy our hospitality. We want to make sure that we are prepared, that we're
07:10partnering with incredible airports like the Miami International Airport and that we're doing it with
07:15the next generation greatest technology and security measures that are possible. We're excited about the
07:21future, what they've done to stop terrorists and criminals from coming into our country and also
07:26removing those that may already be here, but also what we can do to make sure that we're prepared for the
07:31future and any threats that may come as well while people enjoy the travel that is the golden age of
07:36travel, just like President Trump promised the American people. And with that, I'll open it up to
07:41any questions that you may have. Yes.
07:50You're asking me about the body cam footage from, there's a lot of discussion going on with that. The
07:54FBI is leading the investigation and as that goes forward, that'll be at their discretion. Yes.
07:59We're continuing to work with the State Department on any changes on how that relationship works and
08:25the travel between the two countries. We'll look in the future. Yes. Yes.
08:29Yes.
08:40Yes. TPS is a temporary protective status. It's a program that's long existed in law. It has always been
08:47meant to be temporary, although under the Biden administration, we saw it abused and not utilized
08:53correctly according to how law dictates. President Trump is restoring that. Any individual who is
08:59from a country where TPS is expiring has an opportunity to appeal that and to look at other
09:04programs that they may qualify for and they have a number of months to do that. They should reach out
09:08to the State Department. They should reach out to the Department of Homeland Security and we will help
09:12them with that. The State Department gives us the analysis and the Department of Homeland Security
09:32implements the program. So as TPS for Haiti expires, those individuals can all work with us to see if it
09:39is following the law to stay here, and if not, they will return home. Last question.
09:44I wanted to ask about the funding that came down today that Doug denied Minnesota and the
09:49state's plans to expand more ICE agents and that community will react to you today?
09:56No, I'm thankful that we get the chance every day at the department to make sure that we are enforcing the
10:02law and treating people equally in order to protect the American people. So the decisions that come
10:08down, of course, we implement the law and we're grateful when a court sees that the right thing
10:13has been done. We'll continue to focus on getting dangerous criminals, murderers and rapists and drug
10:19traffickers out of this country and bringing them to justice. We're going to continue to try to work with
10:24the local law enforcement and the leadership in Minnesota to do that, to make that community safer.
10:29And I just want to remind you all, the reason that we're in this situation with so many dangerous
10:33people in the country is because of the policies of the previous administration.
10:37Under Joe Biden's administration, millions of people came into the United States that were
10:42completely unvetted. And we know for a fact that we had people that were terrorists,
10:47suspected terrorists, dangerous criminals that came in and have been perpetuating violence on the
10:52American people. We're so grateful that the border is safe and secure, but now we need to make sure that
10:58we're bringing Americans that safety and security as well. And the one data point I would point to
11:04all of you is the fact that we are seeing record low crime rates and murder rates in over a hundred
11:11years, that because of the work of those law enforcement officers, communities are safer.
11:15We're seeing less perpetuation of violence and that's exactly why they took the oath to do their
11:21jobs and in the first place when they first signed up to be a law enforcement officer.
11:27Good. Well, thank you all for being here. Thank you for your partnership. We're grateful for this,
11:33the work that we have with this airport in bringing safety to travelers and also bringing us into the
11:38golden age of travel where we can do it more efficiently and with more hospitality. And thank all
11:43of you behind me for the great work that you do. We appreciate you. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.
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