ICE Agents Sent To U.S. Airports To Help TSA With Long Lines
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were deployed to 14 U.S. airports on Monday, as the partial government shutdown entered day 37 and continued to strain TSA staffing.
BY THE NUMBERS: TSA officers have gone without pay since the shutdown began in mid-February, and absentee rates are rising. On Sunday, more than 11.75% of TSA officers nationwide — over 3,450 workers — called out, the highest rate since the shutdown began more than five weeks ago.
More than a third of officers called out at airports in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, and Baltimore.
Airports where ICE agents have been sent include Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, multiple airports in New York, as well as New Orleans, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Fort Myers, Florida, according to officials and reports.
ICE AGENTS ≠ TSA AGENTSWhite House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that ICE agents would help with patrolling airport entrances and exits, not the actual screening because they lack the specific training needed. Police in some cities have also been helping with the crowds.
In New York, and at many of the airports where ICE agents were sent, passengers were still experiencing long lines. Mo News community members traveling through several of the airports on Monday said they mainly saw agents standing around.
An official who spoke to the New York Times said that the ICE agents were not expected to make immigration arrests as part of helping the understaffed TSA teams.
BUT ARE THEY?
Video posted online shows a woman being detained at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday night. Officials say that incident was part of a separate deportation operation and not connected to the TSA support plan. In a statement, DHS said officers arrested two people from a family that “has an outstanding final order of removal from an immigration judge since 2019.” DHS said one of the arrestees tried to flee and resisted officers while being escorted to the international terminal for processing to Guatemala.
SFO is not among the airports where ICE agents are being sent to help with TSA operations. The airport is one of about 20 in the U.S. that uses private security screening instead of TSA personnel.
However, Homan told CNN on Sunday that agents routinely enforce immigration law at airports nationwide.
MASK OFF
Immigration agents have worn masks in recent months while deployed to various U.S. cities for deportation efforts as a way to conceal their identities for safety reasons. The practice is something that Democratic lawmakers have pushed to end during negotiations over the partial government shutdown.
President Trump said Monday that he ordered ICE officers not to wear masks as he did not see it as "appropriate” for their jobs at airports.
TSA ISSUES ENDING SOON?
Trump reportedly rejected a proposal from Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fund DHS without ICE — a plan supported by Democrats that would have reopened TSA operations and eased airport chaos. He is demanding Republicans don’t compromise until they force through the SAVE Act—a voter ID law that currently doesn’t have the votes to pass.