ICE Agents Sent to 14 Airports

Air travelers stuck in epic security lines are now seeing a different kind of badge at the checkpoint. As a partial government shutdown drains airport security staffing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been dispatched to 14 major US airports to back up the Transportation Security Administration, according to White House border chief Tom Homan. He said the agents are there to "help Americans transit those lines," CBS News reports. A source tells the New York Times that between 100 and 150 ICE agents were sent to airports on Monday, though their exact duties are unclear.

ICE agents were seen at security checkpoints and patrolling terminals in major airports, but many of them "stood and observed, chatted with colleagues or looked at their phones, instead of taking on tasks that would alleviate the burden" on stretched TSA agents, the Times reports. Agents were spotted at airports including Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, and Newark Liberty International Airport. Homan, who blamed the funding stalemate on Democrats, said their main role is to help with screening, but added that, like any law enforcement officer, they're expected to act if they witness criminal activity.

Keith Jeffries, a former head of TSA security at Los Angeles International Airport, tells the AP that while ICE agents may be able to perform some TSA duties, they are not trained in airport security. "There is just zero chance for them to be operating X-rays, conducting bag checks and pat-downs," Jeffries says. He says training for TSA agents includes lengthy classroom instruction and "weeks or months" of on-the-job training. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the move a "terrible idea" that could backfire, CNN reports. "These agents aren't familiar with the layout of the airports they're walking into," Schumer said Monday. "They don't know the protocols and procedures in the same way TSA workers do."

The move follows days of extraordinary delays, with some passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson—the country's busiest airport—reporting waits of up to six hours and lines stretching toward parking lots, CBS reports. TSA employees haven't been paid since the shutdown began in mid-February, and more than 11.5% of officers called out on Saturday, the highest rate since the impasse started.