SEATTLE — Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray are concerned U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing will be inadequate to handle passengers coming through Sea-Tac Airport’s new international arrivals facility.
KING-TV reports Cantwell and Murray implored Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan in a letter Wednesday to provide sufficient staffing or change how new systems will be implemented in order to better handle more passengers.
Sea-Tac’s new international arrivals facility expected to be completed in fall 2020.
With additional space, Sea-Tac expects to nearly double the number of international arrivals gates and increase passenger capacity to 2,600 passengers per hour.
The senators cited modeling that showed when the facility opens, wait times will be two to three times longer than the goal for processing passengers.
