ORLANDO, Fla. — Over a dozen U.S. airports will soon see the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to help offset the workload of TSA officers that have been working without pay since the start of the partial government shutdown.

What You Need To Know

President Donald Trump to deploy ICE agents to 13 U.S airports to counter long wait-times and assist TSA employees; Orlando is not included

TSA workers have been working without pay since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14

Orlando International Airport (MCO) officials say they have not been notified yet that MCO would be one of the airports to be staffed with ICE officers

According to DHS, more than 400 TSA employees have walked off the job since the start of the partial government shutdown

While the Orlando International Airport (formerly known as MCO) is not listed as one of the 13 airports to receive ICE agents, those that will include:

Chicago-O’Hare International Airport
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York)
LaGuardia Airport (New York)
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Newark Liberty International Airport
Philadelphia International Airport
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport
Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers, Florida)

The initiative comes after weeks of significant wait-times and long airport security lines nationwide, sparked by extreme weather and spring break travel.

MCO has also seen long wait times in recent weeks, althought it remains uncertain if more airports will receive ICE officers.

MCO’s Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Angela Starke, said that the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) is in regular communication with its federal partners at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

As of Sunday evening, Starke said they had not been notified that MCO would be one of the airports that would be staffed with ICE officers.

According to DHS, more than 400 TSA employees have walked off the job since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14.

For some airports, this resulted in longer airport security lines and wait-times. 

Although MCO was subject to those long wait-times and delays as well, airport officials said that these were weather related and and not likely because of the government shutdown.

As it stands, TSA employees at Orlando International Airport still continue to work without pay.

“My opinion is that we concentrate on airports where the longest waits are … This is about helping the men and women with TSA. They’ve lost several hundred employees. The lines are really slow because of the shutdown,” U.S. Border Chief Tom Homan explained.

Travelers who had just landed at MCO Monday morning had contrasting views on the matter.

“Shutting down TSA, shutting down the government for political reasons should not be happening. Elections have consequences. If you don’t have the votes, you don’t shut the government down and put people out of work that are not getting paid,” California resident Jon Universal said.

Although there have been concerns about whether ICE officers are adequately trained to handle airport operations, Universal’s wife, Karen, believes that TSA workers need all the help that they can get right now.

“Ultimately, these guys need to be paid, and if there’s a congressman who comes through that line, I hope he’s getting in the line over there and not getting walked to the front of the line, because they need to feel the pain that they caused,” said Karen Universal.

Ayoub Stelate, who is visiting Orlando from Copenhagen, and he shares a different point of view of the new initiative.

“The priority of the TSA agents is to care about the safety of travelers and adding an extra layer of checking the ID’s or the eligibility of the travelers is just interfering with their freedom,” Stelate said.

His concern is that this could actually create even more delays for travelers.

“Because if you’re just randomly going to stop people and what if someone didn’t check all the boxes for the ICE agent, it’s definitely going to put some drama over there which can of course delay the others,” Stelate expressed.

According to Homan, ICE agents will guard exit doors or check ID’s before passengers enter through security but won’t screen passengers or do any tasks that require specific training.

Spectrum News reached out to local airports to see how they were reacting to the news.

Volusia County officials said that security screenings and related activities at Daytona Beach International Airport are solely managed by the federal government, and that it will therefore also be decided by them if staffing changes are made there.

A county spokesperson addeded that during the partial shutdown, TSA employees have “continued to provide efficient service with no significant delays for travelers at the airport.”