ICE agents dispatched to airports as TSA shortage worsens
Travelers are facing long lines at TSA as ICE officers are deployed to airports during the partial government shutdown.
BURLINGTON, Vermont – Critics of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts seized on his request that ICE agents patrolling airports not wear masks as evidence they never needed them in the first place.
Civil rights groups have fought to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to show their faces on the job as a way to ensure accountability. Several states are currently battling the White House in federal court over the anonymizing mask ban. The administration’s long-standing insistence on mask requirements has also contributed to the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government, which has suspended pay for TSA security screeners.
With so many unarmed TSA agents calling out sick or retiring altogether, President Trump ordered armed ICE agents to increase staffing levels at airports. The move alarmed some travelers who fear immigration officials will use overly aggressive tactics inside the country’s airports. In cities across the country, ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under fire for actions such as pulling passengers from vehicles and using tear gas, as well as incidents that led to the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis.
At Burlington International Airport in Vermont’s largest city, Sara Selke, 28, of Seattle, said she felt, ironically, that ICE agents now felt they were fully public. Selke wore an N-95 mask during the trip. He said the TSA has long been criticized for racial profiling and worries that ICE will only exacerbate those concerns given the airport deployment.
“I wear a mask to protect my health,” Selke said. “ICE doesn’t wear masks for the same reason, and I think they feel more empowered and emboldened to not hide their identity in that controlled environment.”
President Trump said ICE agents should avoid wearing masks while working at airports, but would be allowed to wear them at other times. Except in very limited circumstances, U.S. law enforcement officers rarely conceal their identities and are virtually not allowed to remain anonymous for reasons of public accountability. Congressional Democrats are using the ongoing government shutdown to force changes to ICE, including restrictions on mask use.
Federal officials have not released details about how many ICE officers have been sent to airports or which ones, citing safety concerns.
“I strongly believe that they should be able to wear masks to hunt down murderers and criminals and others, but for the purposes of the airport, I’m asking them to take their masks off, and I believe they’re going to do that,” President Trump told reporters on March 23.
Lynn Tramonte of the Ohio Immigration Alliance said adding ICE agents, masked or not, to airports poses more safety concerns than it solves.
“This is not a kind and gentle ICE. This is the same agency that terrorizes communities, launches high-speed chases, and kills people in order to enforce civil law. Working for ICE is the easiest law enforcement job to get and the least responsible,” Tramonte said. “Whether they have a mask or not, masks are still a danger to society.”
Homeland Security officials say their employees are facing a significant increase in intimidation and violence as they carry out President Trump’s order to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. The Department of Homeland Security, led by now-fired Secretary Kristi Noem, said officers and employees must wear masks to protect families from retaliation. But some regime critics say officials are being singled out for participating in an immoral and sometimes unconstitutional deportation campaign.
As of early February, more than 70 percent of immigration detainees had no criminal history of any kind other than possible immigration violations, according to DHS statistics.
News reports about ICE’s airport deployment showed some officers running away from journalists, and in one case an officer appeared to use a flashlight to blind news cameras. In other instances, ICE officers appeared to be barely standing around actively assisting with security screenings.
“President Trump’s decision to send ICE to an airport makes no sense, but President Trump’s sudden decision to have ICE working in public without masks proves once and for all that masks were never meant for officer safety, but simply as a threat,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat and former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
