With an ongoing partial government shutdown preventing TSA workers from being paid, President Donald Trump says he’ll assign ICE agents to assist with security at airports.
In a TruthSocial post, Trump blamed Democrats for the agents not being paid, and says he will direct ICE agents to be put at airports beginning Monday.
“I look forward to moving ICE on Monday, and have already told them to get ready,” the president said.
Tom Homan, the president’s “Border Czar,” discussed plans for the agents on “Meet the Press” Sunday. He said agents would primarily handle securing entrances and exits, and not the work of checking bags and X-ray machines in airports.
“ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already,” Homan said “[But] I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we’re not trained in that.”
According to officials, more than 400 TSA workers have left their posts since the partial government shutdown began in February, leading to long lines and canceled flights at airports across the U.S.
Darrell English, president of the Local 777 TSA union, said providing airport security isn’t a simple job that can easily be handled by other agencies.
“It takes officers in TSA months and years to get themselves up to speed,” he said. “Even an individual off the street can’t replace a TSA agent that leaves.”
In addition to the resignations, many TSA workers are calling out for shifts, unable to afford the gasoline to get to work, according to union officials. Those employees have not received full paychecks since January.
“I want to make sure people understand, officers aren’t calling out sick on purpose, they are calling out because they don’t have the money and that’s not a category they have to chose from,” English said.
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA agents and other federal workers in Illinois and Wisconsin, also issued a statement amid the plan to place ICE agents in airports.
“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,” Kelley said in a statement. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
The union is soliciting donations of fuel cards or gift cards for TSA agents impacted by the government shutdown on its website.
Republicans and Democrats are locked in a stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats are pushing for new limits and restrictions on immigration enforcement agents as part of their conditions for keeping the department funded, and they’ve made efforts to introduce separate legislation to fund the TSA as the shutdown continues.
Republicans have blocked that legislation, saying they will only pass a bill that provides full funding to the department.
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