Federal ICE agents are patrolling some US airlines amid a shortage of security personnel
Listen to this article
Average 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
More US federal immigration officials are on their way to US airports after US President Donald Trump said he would send them to supplement the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) during the government shutdown that has created long lines at security checkpoints across the country.
On Monday morning, Associated Press reporters saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers patrolling airports and standing watch near long lines of passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Louis Armstrong International Airport outside New Orleans.
Government officials are a constant presence at international airports, where Customs and Border Protection officers screen incoming travelers and Homeland Security Investigations agents handle criminal cases. But what’s unusual right now is their appearance at TSA security checkpoints.
ICE agents are poorly trained: union
Union leaders representing airline workers stressed that ICE officers don’t have the same training and expertise as TSA workers — and the presence of federal immigration officials could put some travelers at risk.
At the Atlanta airport, ICE officers in smart vests carry guns holstered in their waistbands. At least one appeared to have a short-barreled pistol strapped to his chest.
White House immigration chief Tom Homan said agents have been sent to 14 airports. Authorities said agents would provide crowd control, but Trump said he could make arrests as well — raising concerns that the frenzied attacks that have played out on the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere could reach the nation’s airports.
“Now they are able to arrest illegals as they enter the country. That is a very fertile area,” Trump told reporters. “But it’s not that they’re there. They’re really there to help.”
US President Donald Trump says he will send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports across the country after a partial government shutdown caused staff shortages and long lines.
However, long wait times and some closed checkpoints continued at other major locations on Monday. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, for example, still urges passengers to allow at least four hours for both domestic and international check-ins. And in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental has defined check-in times between two and a half and four hours at its two check-in points that are always open.
TSA employees go without pay
Monday’s deployment of ICE agents comes as hundreds of thousands of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including TSA agents, have worked without pay since Congress failed to renew DHS funding last month. That has led to many TSA agents calling in sick – or even quitting their jobs – as financial problems pile up. Staff shortages have forced some airports to close check-in areas at times, and wait times have fluctuated significantly for travelers.
Nationwide on Sunday, 11.8 percent of TSA agents missed work — the highest rate of shutdown to date — as more than 3,450 officers called in, according to DHS. More than 400 police officers quit their jobs during the shutdown, the department said.
The Trump administration announced over the weekend that it would send federal immigration officials to TSA checkpoints, unless Democrats agreed to fund DHS. Funding for the department ended on February 14, as Democrats refused to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection without changes to their operations after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
The ongoing budget fight
Democrats continue to seek major changes to the government’s immigration enforcement — including policy changes that would require ICE officers to obtain a warrant from a judge before entering homes, the removal of masks and clear identification on uniforms.
Trump on Monday ordered ICE officials not to wear face coverings in their work at airports. In a social media post, Trump said he supports ICE officers wearing masks when dealing with “hardened criminals” but suggested it’s unnecessary “when it helps our country to get out of a Democrat causing a MESS at airports.”
As the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to be widely criticized for its expulsion from the United States, there is growing concern about the agency’s presence north of the border.
Meanwhile, critics have accused the government of using TSA employees as adversaries in the ongoing budget battle. And some airline unions have raised additional security concerns over the Trump administration’s deployment of federal immigration officials.
“This latest threat of ICE raids on airports is another threat to the solutions that protect the American people,” a coalition of unions representing airline workers – including the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers – said in a statement Sunday.
Transportation security officials “cannot simply be replaced” by federal immigration officials, the unions said, adding that ICE’s presence and potential efforts to question passengers about immigration status could “distract them from ensuring airport security.”
Unions have called for TSA workers to be paid immediately, noting that ICE officials are among Homeland Security workers who have continued to receive paychecks as the partial shutdown continues.
While the regular funding used to pay TSA agents has expired, ICE and other immigration enforcement operations are being funded by workers who receive paychecks as a result of Trump’s tax cut bill that became law last year. It estimated the DHS budget for immigration detention and deportation by billions.
Beyond the TSA, New York’s LaGuardia Airport is closed following an accident on the runway Sunday afternoon when an Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck on approach, killing the pilot and co-pilot.
