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Federal immigration agents\u00a0newly ordered to U.S. airports\u00a0by President Donald Trump to help relieve security line congestion may guard exit lanes or check passenger IDs as a budget impasse has air travelers frustrated over hourslong waits and screeners angry about missed paychecks.<\/p>\n
Trump made clear on Sunday, a day after saying he would use immigration officers for\u00a0airport security\u00a0starting Monday unless Democrats agreed on a bill to fund the\u00a0Department of Homeland Security, that he was going ahead with the plan to assist the Transportation Security Administration.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of homeland security workers, including from the TSA, U.S. Secret Service and Coast Guard, have\u00a0worked without pay\u00a0since\u00a0Congress failed to renew DHS funding\u00a0last month. Democrats are demanding major changes in the conduct of federal immigration agents and showing no sign of backing down.<\/p>\n
White House border czar Tom Homan, named by Trump to lead this effort, has also been meeting with a bipartisan group of senators in recent days over the partial shutdown and while he characterized those sessions as \u201cgood conversations,\u201d he said they were \u201cnot at a point yet where we\u2019re in total agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate, convening in a rare weekend session, was expected to advance the nomination of Sen.\u00a0Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to be Trump\u2019s next homeland security secretary. A vote on the confirmation could come as early as late Monday as Mullin has\u00a0tried to make the casethat he would be a steady hand\u00a0after the tumultuous tenure\u00a0of Kristi Noem, Trump\u2019s first DHS secretary.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Homan said in Sunday news show interviews that the increased role of U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement at airports \u2014 specific duties and numbers \u2014 was subject to discussions with the leadership of TSA and ICE \u201cto find out where we can fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pledged to have \u201ca plan by the end of today, where we\u2019re sending \u2014 what airports we\u2019re starting with and where we\u2019re sending them. \u2026 So it\u2019s a work in progress.\u201d The priority, Homan said, was \u201cthe large airports where there\u2019s a long wait, like three hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration officers, as an example, could cover exits currently monitored by TSA agents, freeing them to work screening lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already. They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigation on smuggling at airports,\u201d Homan said, adding that \u201ccertainly, a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit and makes sure people don\u2019t go through those exits, entering the airport through the exits. And stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another option, he said, was having ICE agents check identification before people enter screenings areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be a force multiplier,\u201d Homan said.<\/p>\n
While saying to help \u201cwherever we can provide extra security,\u201d Homan said there were limits. \u201cI don\u2019t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we\u2019re not trained in that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump said in a social media post that on Monday, \u201cICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job\u201d despite the partial government shutdown. He further criticized Democrats.<\/p>\n
Travelers at some airports worried about reaching their gates Sunday.<\/p>\n
At Atlanta\u2019s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, lines wrapped from one end of the airport to the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone just seems to be accepting it for what it is, said 43-year-old Blake Wilbanks, who showed up 2 1\/2 hours early for his morning flight to Salt Lake City after reading about the shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopeful I\u2019m gonna make it,\u201d he said as he waited in a winding security line.<\/p>\n
The scene appeared more chaotic at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Large big crowds of anxious travelers piled toward security checkpoints, and TSA staff shouted through megaphones to tell people not to push one another.<\/p>\n
For Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, one concern is the uncertainty that passengers are facing over possible wait times at any airport on any given day.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I have to come an hour and a half early? Do I have to come four hours early? They don\u2019t know until the day of or the afternoon of their flight,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if we can alleviate that, again, the president wants to take away that leverage point for Democrats and make travel easier for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said \u201cthe last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country\u201d after criticism about their conduct as part of Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Homan appeared on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d and \u201cFox News Sunday,\u201d while Duffy was interviewed on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d and Jeffries spoke on CNN.<\/p>\n
#Trumps #border #czar #ICE #agents #guard #exits #check #IDs #airport #screening #areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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