ICE agents have been assigned to Sky Harbor Airport as the partial government shutdown drags on. On Tuesday, KJZZ visited Terminal 4, where half of the checkpoints in Terminal 4 have been closed since Friday due to TSA staffing shortages.
No ICE agents were immediately visible when foot traffic was light.
Ron Garnica came early from Tucson for his flight to Miami and then on to Lima, Peru. He said it’s nice that ICE is helping, but it could have come from somewhere else.
“Congress, the president could easily alleviate the TSA. But he loves chaos,” Garnica said.
Neither he nor Maria Wyckmans said they were feeling anxiety about long security lines ahead.
“My daughter had a friend who flew out yesterday and said it was like 15 minutes,” Wyckmans said.
Wyckmans was heading for Tennessee to help out her son, who is a member of the military and on assignment. She was happy to see ICE at Sky Harbor.
“I think they’re doing a great job and they’re there to support and help us. So bring them in,” Wyckmans said.
Donations for TSA workers going unpaid during the partial shutdown are being accepted in Terminal 4.
Michael Ferguson was on his way to El Paso. He said the presence of ICE likely gives some people anxiety.
“I guess if they’re here to help get people through, that’s a good use of the time then. Just to keep travelers going to where they need to be. Especially, for example, me. I want to be there for my mom to be there at 5 in the morning for her surgery. So I need to get there today,” Ferguson said.
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The ruling comes a day after news broke of the government’s plan to offer legal aid to detained immigrant children through a $150 million contract Burke Law Group — a small Texas-based firm with a co-founder who is a former Trump appointee. -
A notice posted on the Federal Register this week details a $150 million government contract with Burke Law Group to represent unaccompanied immigrant children. A multimillion-dollar contact with nonprofits across the country to do the work expired Friday. -
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to help people during disasters like floods and fires. But a new report finds the Trump administration diverted FEMA staff at key times to do something very different — help ICE in immigration enforcement. -
The DACA program turned 14 this year. The Obama-era initiative is supposed to give some undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a work permit and temporary protection from deportation. But community members say that’s no longer the case under President Donald Trump. -
Some 20,000 children alone in the US receive legal aid through the contract — part of a federal program established by Congress almost two decades ago. The contract to do that work expires July 31.
