Long Beach Airport refuses to show Trump admin propaganda video

Long Beach Airport has joined numerous other airfields across the country in refusing to broadcast a video featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at its security checkpoints, city officials confirmed.

In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Rex Richardson said DHS asked Long Beach Airport to show the video, which features Noem blaming Democrats for the ongoing federal government shutdown, earlier this week.

“The City of Long Beach reviewed the request and determined that the video, due to its political content, would violate California law, the federal Hatch Act, and may infringe on First Amendment protections,” Richardson said. “The City understands that this is a request, not a mandate or security directive from the federal government.”

As a result, Long Beach opted to not show the political video, joining other airports in Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Jersey, Phoenix, Portland, Ore. and Seattle, according to NPR.

The Hatch Act, which became law in 1939, restricts partisan political activities of federal executive branch employees to ensure that they "are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation,” according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

The law prevents officials from using their authority "to influence or effect the result of an election, or using resources or media that advocates for or against a partisan political party. And that's essentially what's on the Noem message in the airports," Penn State Dickson Law Professor Stanley Brand told NPR.

“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government and, because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay," Noem says in the video. "We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel and our hope is that Democrats will soon realize the importance of opening the government.”

Brand told NPR that Noem is blatantly using her position to spread a partisan political message.

Noem’s video is not the only action taken by the Trump administration that likely violates the Hatch Act, according to experts. Numerous government websites now feature the same political message: Blame the shutdown on “radical left Democrats.”

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, told NPR that the Trump administration is "going on a full court press campaign to violate the Hatch Act, intentionally and openly, to defy the statute and regulations, to demonstrate that the Trump administration is above the law."

Despite controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, Republicans continue to blame Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown. Democrats, meanwhile, place the blame on Republicans for not even being open to a compromise on demands.

Democrats continue to push to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and undo Medicaid cuts included in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Republicans claim the demands are an explicit attempt to give healthcare to undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for Medicaid and their addition is not included in the Democrat’s proposal.

While the Trump administration continues to warn of possible delays in travel as a result of the shutdown, some of which have materialized in certain parts of the country, no impacts have been felt at Long Beach at this point, officials said Wednesday.

“Long Beach Airport continues to operate smoothly with no disruptions to flights or passenger services,” airport spokesperson Lindsey Phillips-Flores said in an email. “While there are no delays or impacts at this time, operations could become more challenging if the shutdown continues.”

“While Washington shuts down, Long Beach is stepping up — keeping services running, protecting our residents, and supporting our workers,” Mayor Richardson said. “What we need from our federal government right now is cooperation, not more division.”