ICE officers have started checking travelers’ identification documents (IDs)
Abu Sabet: Some Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have started checking travelers’ identification documents (IDs) after receiving standard training from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), officials from the latter agency said.
Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that ICE officers deployed to select airports throughout the country were trained in non-specialized screening, which includes guarding entry and exits to security lanes, controlling crowds and checking IDs, among other tasks.
Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement, “After receiving standard TSA training curriculum, ICE officers are guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, doing crowd control, and verifying identification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures.”
“The more support we have available, the more efficiently TSA can focus on their highly specialized screening roles to efficiently get airport security lines moving faster,” Bis added.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, ICE officers were spotted instructing travelers to insert their IDs into card readers, verifying their identities on a computer screen and waving people toward scanning equipment, while TSA officers guided them.
The paper also reported that at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, armed ICE officers donning ballistic vests checked IDs, looked at travelers’ documents and helped manage the flow of baggage on security conveyor belts.
President Trump deployed ICE officers to airports across the country starting on Monday, as TSA officers are working without pay amid the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
McNeill said Wednesday that more than 480 airport screeners have quit since the DHS funding lapse began on Feb. 14 and that the agency is set to lose $1 billion in missed paychecks by Friday. As a result of officers leaving TSA and calling out of work at increased rates, security wait times at airports nationwide have skyrocketed.
The acting TSA administrator also said that ICE officers were trained in “non-specialized screening” for “several days” this week to operate security checkpoints. She noted that officers are undergoing other trainings, such as for manning queues.
“When we roll out operations, it takes a while to really get folks embedded into our operations,” McNeill said. “And it’s gone extremely well, and our feedback from the passengers and our field leadership has been very positive.”
But Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.) noted during the hearing that McNeill said it takes four to six months to properly train TSA officers.
“Which spells exactly what I fear,” he said. “That it’s nothing more than window dressing and cheap theater and political performance to bring ICE agents in, many of which are hardly trained to do the functions of ICE, let alone to come to airports and do sophisticated screening and training.”
TSA union leaders have also pushed back on ICE’s presence at airports, saying it has not helped with lengthy security lines and distracts from what Congress should do: funding DHS.
One TSA officer in Atlanta also said at a virtual press conference Tuesday that ICE officers are not doing any duties that were not already performed by City of Atlanta staff.
“Look, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what ICE is doing up there. They just need to pay the employees,” said Johnny Jones at the presser. Jones is the secretary treasurer for the American Federation of Government Employees’ (AFGE) TSA Council 100 and the local president of AFGE Local 1040.
“This is a straight-up distraction to the real story of TSA officers going to work without being paid,” he added. “The ICE officers are being paid. This is kind of like an insult to the employees.”
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