After all of the talk about social distancing, the scene at Chicago O'Hare airport and other international airports was chaotic and dangerous, due to new federal restrictions on international travel, a situation which alarmed and angered Illinois governor JB Pritzker.
Out of frustration, Pritzker turned to Twitter:
The crowds & lines O’Hare are unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately.@realDonaldTrump @VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to—you need to do something NOW.
These crowds are waiting to get through customs which is under federal jurisdiction— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 15, 2020
He went on to say that the Trumpsters need to get their "s@#t together now."
The federal government needs to get its s@#t together. NOW.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 15, 2020
So, what does a responsible White House do? Not what Trump's White House did. According to Pritzker on Meet the Press, the response to his tweet was to yell about the tweet.
“I got a call at about 11:00 last night after that tweet from a White House staffer who yelled at me about the tweet," he told Chuck Todd. "That is what I got."
Apparently he also got the attention of the CBP for half a minute to deal with the mess at the airport, as well as senators, who are now working on solutions to a problem that should have been foreseen before it became a problem.
Instead, this is what they did:
Attention travelers: customs processing is taking longer than usual inside the Federal Inspection Services (FIS) facility owing to enhanced #COVID19 screening for passengers arriving from Europe. Thank you for your patience.
— O'Hare Intl. Airport (@fly2ohare) March 15, 2020
Thank you for your patience during a sensitive and rapidly evolving situation. We have strongly encouraged our federal partners to increase staffing to meet demand.
— O'Hare Intl. Airport (@fly2ohare) March 15, 2020
Ya think?
