The Trump administration says it’s deploying hundreds of ICE agents to airports across the country to address Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.
In a press release Monday, the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport said the city’s aviation department was notified that ICE agents will help TSA process passengers at security checkpoints.
Two of four checkpoints at Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4 have been closed since Friday due to staff shortages.
An airport spokesperson confirmed Monday morning that both remain closed, but directed questions about the number of ICE agents at the airport, what they’d be doing, and whether they’d be armed to the Department of Homeland Security.
In an email, Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said about 20% of Sky Harbor’s TSA workforce called out of work on March 22.
Thousands have done so nationwide since Feb. 14 — when lawmakers in Washington failed to agree on DHS funding and the partial shutdown began. Bis did not answer questions about whether ICE agents would be armed or if they would be conducting immigration enforcement at airports.
TSA employees have not been paid since then, but ICE agents are still being paid though a different federal fund.
DHS would not say which airports are included in the ICE deployment, citing security concerns. But signs were posted near security at Sky Harbor on Monday morning informing passengers ICE was present.
12News also reported ICE agents were spotted at the airport.
Over the weekend, a proposal by Senate Democrats to sidestep chamber rules and advance a bill to pay TSA personnel failed along party lines.
Meanwhile, negotiations over stipulations to resume funding DHS continue, with Democrats pushing for changes like barring ICE agents from wearing masks and require the use of judicial warrants for immigration enforcement.
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