ICE agent at JFK Airport

An ICE agent overlooks a terminal at JFK.

Photo by Dean Moses

There is no reason good enough to justify President Trump’s deployment of ICE agents into the nation’s airports, including all three of New York’s hubs: LaGuardia, JFK and Newark-Liberty.

Yes, the airports are experiencing frustratingly long waits at security checkpoints operated by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, who have gone unpaid for weeks and are now calling out sick because Congress has failed to agree on funding the Department of Homeland Security, which operates both ICE and the TSA.

Democrats in Congress put a stop to funding DHS because of the abhorrent actions of ICE agents across America. For months, masked ICE agents have intimidated and assaulted immigrants obeying court orders to appear at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts around the country. 

Their occupation of Minneapolis demonstrated an agency completely out of control with the use of force, the ignorance of civil and constitutional rights, and the shooting deaths of two citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Trump, however, insists DHS be fully funded. Democrats have repeatedly attempted to fund TSA separately, with seven bills put forth in the Senate. Republicans, however, voted all seven of those bills down, keeping TSA unfunded along with the rest of the DHS. 

TSA must be funded. Founded in the wake of 9/11 nearly a quarter-century ago, the agency is an essential front-line defense in keeping the skies of our country secure, and passengers safe. Neither Trump nor ICE has yet demonstrated a need to change the agency’s operations in the wake of its brutish operations over the past year. Immigration enforcement is essential, but ICE has proven it cannot handle the job in a manner respectful to the rights of Americans and the rights of those it detains.

And ICE lacks the comprehensive training and temperament of TSA agents to deal with passengers, inspect bags, defuse any possible tension and detect real threats to the people boarding flights. Even with Trump ordering ICE agents at the airports not to wear masks, their presence alone is enough to alarm and aggravate passengers already feeling stressed out by the long wait at TSA checkpoints.

Having ICE skulking the terminals of JFK, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty is a disaster waiting to happen. With close to 400,000 people coming into and out of our city daily through these hubs, the city cannot afford the sight of ICE agents in military fatigues scaring visitors away or provoking confrontations.

Trump and Congress can avoid this disaster by coming to their senses, agreeing to fund TSA, get all agents back to work on a paying basis — and getting ICE out of our airports.