President Donald Trump’s “golden age of America” has no need for migrant labor. Picking crops? There are 34 million able-bodied American adults on Medicaid who can do that grueling work. Building homes? Native-born Americans will handle those jobs. Meat processing? The country has no use for foreign laborers willing to put in the hours for “slave wages.”
When it comes to one of the country’s most sensitive and technically demanding government jobs, however, the Trump administration is quietly humming a different tune. I obtained documents showing that the Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the possibility of hiring foreigners as air traffic controllers. “The FAA is facing significant air traffic controller staffing shortages, and to address this issue, is exploring the idea of recruiting experienced international talent,” states a three-page executive summary of the initiative, which has not been previously reported.
“However, this approach must be carefully managed to ensure that the FAA’s high standards for safety and procedures are upheld,” the summary adds, acknowledging a need to “balance the critical areas of safety, training, national security, and immigration law to create a sustainable and effective workforce strategy for the FAA.”
A U.S. official involved in the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that had not been made public, told me that the FAA’s security experts are “losing their minds” over the prospect of turning foreign nationals into key nodes of the United States aerospace system. Of particular concern is the access they could gain to radars and communications networks as well as sensitive information about military flight paths, restricted airspace, and air-defense zones.
Nathaniel Sizemore, a Department of Transportation spokesperson, told me the FAA is “exploring every available option” to address the strain on the air-traffic-controller workforce but that no final decision has been made about hiring foreigners. Sizemore suggested that the initiative is in some way payback, because “foreign countries routinely steal U.S. controllers, who are rightfully frustrated by outdated tools and crumbling infrastructure.”
The initiative responds to staffing shortfalls that have caused ground delays and diminished flight capacity at major airports. More than 90 percent of the country’s 313 air-traffic-control centers are functioning below the FAA’s recommended staffing levels, according to an analysis by the union that represents these workers.
Chronic understaffing has contributed to fatigue and mandatory overtime. It may also bear some responsibility for a series of recent crashes and near-misses. Air-traffic-control staffing was “not normal” at the time of the deadly January midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to a preliminary FAA report. After that crash, which killed 67 people, the Department of Transportation debuted plans to “supercharge” the air-traffic-control workforce. Salaries for new trainees were bumped up by 30 percent. Four months were shorn from the hiring timeline.
Controllers I spoke with at the time anticipated that these measures would be insufficient. While bonuses were also made available to existing employees who agreed to put off retirement, skeptical controllers argued that a broader pay increase and greater vacation time were necessary to stem attrition.
But Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary (and interim NASA chief), seems uninterested in these changes. Instead, he previously suggested that controllers could work past the legally mandated retirement age of 56. Now he appears to be eyeing not just older controllers, but controllers from outside the United States.
The obstacles are legal as well as political. Most federal jobs are available only to U.S. citizens, and FAA-specific rules state that non-U.S. citizens are not eligible for security clearances. The rules require background investigations to determine whether prospective employees can be trusted with responsibility for sensitive infrastructure, essential safety functions, and emergency-response duties.
The FAA executive summary acknowledges the legal challenges. The memo envisions a “need to create a structured pathway for these international recruits that leads to FAA employment and eventual U.S. citizenship.” It indicates that the agency’s analysis drew on the example of “institutions that admit international students.” Yet the Trump administration has taken steps to crack down on international students, recently seeking to bar foreign nationals from studying at Harvard altogether. (A federal judge in Boston has blocked these efforts.)
The summary identifies two possible paths, taking as long as 53 or 55 months, or about four and a half years, including language training, a course about weather and “basic phraseology,” and evaluation. It makes brief mention of security concerns, noting, “Foreign nationals would require rigorous vetting and same background clearance process as current ATCs.” It anticipates objections from the union representing air traffic controllers.
The memo makes no mention of possible political objections, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment. Among the lavish promises of Trump’s second term is the return of U.S. jobs on a large scale to U.S.-born workers. That’s the rationale for mass deportation. Trump vowed in his inaugural address to “protect American workers.” “How does it help working-class families in our country to have an economy that benefits the foreign‑born more than native‑born American citizens?” J. D. Vance asked on social media last year.
But that, apparently, does not apply to at least one job. The median salary for an air traffic controller, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is roughly $145,000.
