Chaos, tension and fear in our air terminals. Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) have been deployed since Monday at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in New York and Liberty airport in Newark, New Jersey, with the objective – according to the government of President Donald Trump – of easing the workload of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA, in English).
“The Port Authority expects that all personnel assigned to collaborate in passenger control tasks receive appropriate training and focus on supporting control operations,” said a spokesperson for that entity in a statement.
In an interview with CNN’s ‘State of the Union’, White House border czar Tom Homan explained that ICE agents will help TSA workers, who have been unpaid since February, “do their jobs in areas that do not require specialized knowledge,” such as guarding an exit, managing lines or controlling crowds.
Several pro-immigrant organizations have criticized this decision, especially after Trump suggested that federal agents may also carry out arrests and detentions of immigrants, although this is not the objective of the deployment.
The measure has sparked criticism among opposition politicians such as Mikie Sherrill, governor of NJ, where Newark airport is located, which also operates to New York. He assured that sending “untrained” ICE agents to airports “is not an acceptable solution.”
“Every time (President) Donald Trump interferes, he causes chaos among the American population. This latest proposal is no exception,” Sherrill asserted.
It should be noted that the Senate rejected on Friday, for the fifth time since February, funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has been in partial closure for five weeks and on which TSA and immigration agencies depend.
The suspension of payroll payments for TSA workers has led many to ask for leave or be fired, causing very long lines at important US airports such as JFK or Newark.
The Democrats’ refusal to fund DHS arose after two Minneapolis citizens were shot dead by federal agents in January as part of the massive immigration raids activated by the Trump Administration in the state of Minnesota.
According to reports, the casualties of TSA personnel at United States airports wreak havoc on service to travelers.
The New York area was one of the most affected after 33.7% of staff were missing from John F. Kennedy International Airport and 20.3% from LaGuardia, where an accident between a plane and a fire truck kept the terminal closed for several hours.
The ICE deployment comes after an Air Canada plane from Montreal and a Port Authority fire truck collided on the runway at LaGuardia Airport in Queens.
For now, only the death of the pilot and co-pilot has been reported, while the truck drivers and several passengers and crew members were injured. LaGuardia Airport remained closed until at least 2 p.m.
On the other hand, 10.93% of all TSA workers in the US were absent from work, which represents more than 3,200 employees.
Casualties are reported of 40.3% of the TSA staff at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston (Texas) were absent from their jobs, according to the latest data from the DHS, obtained by NBC News this Tuesday.
They are followed by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta (Georgia), where 37.4% were missing; the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (Texas), which recorded 36.1% casualties; and Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, which had 34.9% fewer staff.
