ICE in Support Role at Airports as Security Lines Persist
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are deployed to airports around the country to assist Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains shut down.
This comes as Deputy TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told Congress that current security wait times are the “longest in history” and that 480 officers have quit since the start of the shutdown, rather than being forced to report to work without pay.
"Multiple airports are experiencing days where 40-50 percent of their staff are calling off because they simply cannot afford to report to work," said Deputy Administrator McNeill.
ICE Impact
The deployment of ICE at select airports has reportedly done little to mitigate security wait times. On Wednesday, March 25, it was still taking about four hours to clear security at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport, one of the airports that’s seen a high rate of callouts from TSOs during the shutdown.
While DHS won’t confirm the exact airports, media reported ICE officers at 14 airports including some of the busiest like Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Houston Bush, Houston Hobby, Newark, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.
The role ICE is playing is largely support, according to current and former TSA officials.
TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News that ICE is “conducting non-specialized security support — manning the exit lanes, crowd management, line control … to help alleviate the challenges that our officers are facing.”
Former TSA Administrator John Pistole noted that ICE officers will not be working the checkpoint, noting TSOs undergo extensive training and are equipped to handle nuanced questions such as whether somebody with a pacemaker can go through the checkpoint.
“That’s not their (ICE’s) training or background or experience. And heaven forbid a potential terrorist sees this as an opportunity to try to get through a checkpoint because it’s less secure,” Pistole said.
However, an ICE officer at an airport can briefly detain an individual, request identification, and issue an arrest if they believe the person has broken the law.
“If they are just merely standing in the airport as ICE officers, then they have the same legal authority that any ICE officer standing in a public location has,” said Nicole Hallett, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago.
