Is it safe to fly this Thanksgiving? Air Marshal union chief warns holiday travel could be 'unsafe' due to shortage of federal agents on flights after staff were redeployed to help Border Patrol at southern border

As millions of Americans flock to the airport this Thanksgiving, an industry expert warns that the deployment of air marshals to the U.S.-Mexico border may leave flights unsafe.

Travel chaos is already in full swing as storms batter the Plains and Midwest, delaying 3,000 flights ahead of Thursday.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen a record-breaking 30 million passengers from November 17 through November 28. 

But to further complicate things, the airline industry may face a shortage of air marshals - the covert counter-terrorism agents - who are being diverted to tackle the migrant crisis at the border.

'We are ushering in illegal immigrants on the border and leaving the traveling public unsafe,' Sonya LaBosco, director of the Air Marshal National Council, told FOX News on Tuesday.

She explained that agents were being deployed at the country's southern border rather than in the transportation sector.

These armed and specially trained officers fly disguised as regular passengers and act as onboard law enforcement.

However, LaBosco claimed her organization received an email 'that resources are depleted as far as our flying air marshals.'

She said leaders of federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and its subsidiary, the Transportation Security Administration, are responsible for the shortage.

Those deployed to the border are 'not doing law enforcement duties' and are 'passing out water' instead, LaBosco said.

Last October, the DHS sought volunteers from the Federal Air Marshal Service, but when fewer than 150 signed up some were assigned.

The following month, more than a dozen officers planned to refuse deployment.

LaBosco slammed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for insisting that the border was secure.

'He will not call this a crisis,' she said. 'But now, not only is the border destabilized, our aviation is destabilized as well.'

She disclosed that air marshals were largely restricted to 'Quiet Skies missions' amid the shortage.

These operations focus on travelers who present an elevated risk to security. Recently, this has meant trailing people who flew to the U.S. Capitol region around the time of the January 6 riots.

'We're either on the border for illegal immigrants or we're following folks from January 2021,' LaBosco said. 'So right now, on most flights, you're not going to have air marshals.'

In their absence, she warned, 'you're kind of on you're own.'

She encouraged passengers to look for Good Samaritans who may be willing to help.

'If anything happens, please don't wait. There's going to be no law enforcement that's going to help you, so you need to have a plan,' she said.

'Look where the exit doors are. Look where your flight attendants are standing around you.'