Duckworth, Durbin Call on Trump Administration to Do More to Bring Home Illinoisans Stranded Overseas

Mar 24, 2020 9:15 AM

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WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are calling on the Trump Administration to use its authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA) to do more to bring back Illinoisans as well as any other Americans who are currently stranded abroad as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao last night, the Senators call for the Administration to reactivate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) readiness program and work with U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) at Illinois’s Scott Air Force Base and other federal agencies to swiftly expand our nation’s repatriation efforts for citizens overseas in countries where commercial flights are not available or accessible.

“We ask that the U.S. Department of State’s State Repatriation Task Force immediately work with U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and civilian air carriers who participate in CRAF, to swiftly expand CRAF readiness program operations to repatriate Americans overseas in countries where commercial flights are not available or accessible,” wrote the Senators. “The President has already publicly stated the DPA was being invoked in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the State Repatriation Task Force should be working with USTRANSCOM, USDOT and industry partners to efficiently execute the broad activation of CRAF chartered air transportation capabilities to countries such as Peru, where many Americans are stranded with no way to come home, including our constituents.”

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