Trump administration scrambles to deploy ICE agents at airports as lines mount
Story by Erin Mulvaney, Michelle Hackman, Siobhan Hughes, Allison Pohle
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will begin trying to ease bottlenecks at airports on Monday, as the Trump administration scrambles to develop a plan to end
hourslong security lines amid a partial government shutdown.
President Trump said in several social-media posts over the weekend that
ICE agents would help at airports if a deal wasn’t reached by Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security. His first post Saturday came as a surprise to officials inside ICE and at DHS, who have spent the weekend trying to figure out how it could work, according to three people familiar with the matter.
White House border czar Tom Homan said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that ICE officials could monitor exit lanes to make sure people don’t enter through them, or check identification before passengers enter the screening area to free up officers to move customers through the lines with body scans and X-rays.
“We’re trying to release TSA resources to get to positions that they really need expertise in, like ....
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will begin trying to ease bottlenecks at airports on Monday, as the Trump administration scrambles to develop a plan to end
hourslong security lines amid a partial government shutdown.
President Trump said in several social-media posts over the weekend that
ICE agents would help at airports if a deal wasn’t reached by Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security. His first post Saturday came as a surprise to officials inside ICE and at DHS, who have spent the weekend trying to figure out how it could work, according to three people familiar with the matter.
White House border czar Tom Homan said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that ICE officials could monitor exit lanes to make sure people don’t enter through them, or check identification before passengers enter the screening area to free up officers to move customers through the lines with body scans and X-rays.
“We’re trying to release TSA resources to get to positions that they really need expertise in, like
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As the article points out,
Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, private-sector contractors handled most airport-security screenings. Those responsibilities were largely brought under federal oversight after the TSA was established in 2001.
ICE officers aren’t trained in aviation security and putting untrained officers at checkpoints creates a security gap rather than filling one, said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees in a statement issued Sunday. TSA officers “deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be,” Kelley said.