Now Trump is putting ICE agents in US airports – how will it affect you?
ICE agents will be deployed to major airports across the United States beginning today in a bid to help security agents.
For more than a month, TSA agents across the US have been affected by a partial government shutdown, leading to long lines and longer waits in airport terminals.
Many of the TSA agents haven’t been paid during the lingering shutdown, leading many to walk off the job until the government is up and running again.
Trump posted a rambling Truth Social, explaining the change: ‘The Radical Left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace.
‘If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before! The Fascist Democrats will never protect America, but the Republicans will.
‘Just like the Radical Left allowed millions of Criminals to pour into our Country through their ridiculous and dangerous Open Border Policy, the Republicans closed it all down, and we now have the Strongest Border in American History. Likewise, I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, “GET READY.”’
Here’s what to know.
What to know about ICE in the airport
To combat the delays, however, Donald Trump had a brilliant idea – deploy his immigration officers to 14 airports.
JFK and LaGuardia in New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix will all have ICE officers on site to ‘help out’.
Despite widespread worry, Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens reassured his city that ICE will only operate under the TSA, and not in any immigration matters.
ICE officers will be used to help with queue management and crowd control, inside domestic terminals only, he said.
Tom Homan, Trump’s ‘border czar’, told CNN: ‘There are TSA agents covering exits. People who enter through the exits.
‘Certainly, a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit, make sure people don’t go through those exits, and enter an airport through the exits.’
‘Stuff like that relieves the TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines. I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because they’re not trained in that,’ he added.
‘There are certain parts of security that TSA’s doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialised jobs and help them move those lines.’
As of now, it appears the ICE agents won’t be doing TSA agents’ jobs, but rather filling in gaps and helping with crowd control.
However, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that ICE agents would ‘do Security [sic] like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants [sic]’.
What are your rights with TSA?
Travellers in US airports are required to comply with TSA screening procedures.
If questioned by law enforcement in the airport – which includes ICE agents – citizens have the right to remain silent, and need only answer questions pertaining to their travel plans and identity.
The ACLU notes that you could face detainment or further inspection if you refuse to give over your phone.
The ACLU added that ICE doesn’t have authority to detain or question US citizens without cause, and those on visas and green cards also have rights.
They are only required to answer questions related to their immigration status.
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