DHS ‘surging staff’ to prevent Super Bowl disruption by US ‘freedom convoy’ truckers, says Jen Psaki

‘There’s already 500 DHS personnel providing extensive air and maritime security resources’

(Getty Images)

The Department of Homeland Security is “surging staff” to protect Sunday’s Super Bowl from an anticipated threat by the anti-vaccine mandate “freedom convoy” of truckers in the US.

Speaking on Friday, ahead of action by Canadian police to remove truckers blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ms Psaki said the DHS was taking “all necessary steps to ensure that the convoy does not disrupt lawful trade and transportation or interfere with federal government and law enforcement operations”.

“On reports that this convoy is causing disruptions at the Super Bowl, the Department of Homeland Security ... is surging additional staff to its incident command post. There’s strong cooperation with the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Police Department, and state and local authorities,” she explained.

“And the department already has a lead field coordinator and emergency operations center in place, as would be standard protocol, given this is a large event — the Super Bowl. And they will build on that. There’s already 500 DHS personnel providing extensive air and maritime security resources.

“So, we are in both close touch with our Canadian counterparts, also with local officials through our Department of Homeland Security. Our Secretary of Transportation is also deeply involved in this. And we’re working to address this on all fronts.”