Jason Lange, Mike Scarcella and Nolan McCaskill
Updated ,first published
Washington: US President Donald Trump said that he would send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to help out Transportation Security Administration personnel in US airports.
“On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job,” he said in a Truth Social post on Sunday (Washington time).
Trump had on Saturday threatened to deploy ICE agents to airports if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport safety.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel are set to miss a second full pay cheque on March 27 amid a partial government shutdown in its 36th day as lawmakers clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency for TSA and ICE.
TSA officers have called in sick as pay cheques have dried up, and the shortage of security agents has disrupted travel at major airports. More than 400 TSA workers have quit since the partial shutdown began on February 14, NBC News reported on Saturday, citing DHS.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would only conduct “non-significant” tasks such as guarding exits.
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialised expertise such as screening through the X-ray machine,” he told on CNN on Sunday. “Not trained in that, won’t do that.”
However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that ICE agents “know how to pat people down, they know how to run the X-ray machines”.
On Saturday, Trump said ICE agents at airports “will do Security like no one has ever seen before”, and that they would conduct “immediate arrests” of any undocumented immigrants with an emphasis on Somalis.
But Homan downplayed that aspect of the assignment, saying ICE had been present and conducting immigration enforcement at airports.
“It’s not going to change,” he said. “When we deploy tomorrow, we’ll have a well-thought-out plan to execute.”
The labor union representing TSA workers criticised Trump’s decision, saying their members spend months in training learning to detect explosives and weapons.
“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, said. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
TSA has about 65,000 employees, including 50,000 airport security officers.
ICE has played a central role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, drawing criticism from many Democrats, civil liberties advocates and immigration advocacy groups.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, criticised Trump’s proposal as “another reckless, lawless threat to misuse ICE agents”.
“He seems to have no concept of what the limits are on ICE, and I think America would be absolutely appalled to see ICE agents roaming through airports, just as they’ve been breaking down doors at homes,” Blumenthal told reporters in Washington.
Homeland Security historically had shifted resources across agencies during emergency staffing shortages, said Stewart Baker, who was a DHS policy official in president George W. Bush’s administration. Keeping TSA going without paying staff creates “serious trouble” for the agency, Baker said.
Using ICE agents for airport security “may be slower than using trained people, but it would be better than having nobody”, he added.
ICE, along with Customs and Border Protection, has deployed agents over the past few months to multiple areas as part of the crackdown, most recently to Minnesota in an operation that resulted in agents fatally shooting American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Their deaths sparked a backlash and led the Trump administration to adopt a more targeted approach in Minnesota.
Trump this month fired Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem amid growing criticism of the administration’s immigration tactics. The US Senate is considering the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, as the next DHS secretary.
Trump has said his immigration policies are intended to curb illegal immigration and improve national security.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union said TSA had provided lists of airport travellers to ICE, calling the move a break from TSA’s prior practices.
Reuters, Bloomberg
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