ICE agents expected at Pittsburgh airport
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PIT's security lines. Photo: Ryan Deto/Axios
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are expected at Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday — a day after President Trump said he's sending ICE to U.S. airports to assist TSA.
Why it matters: Transportation Security Administration officers have been working without pay for more than five weeks during the partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Driving the news: "We do expect ICE at PIT at some point today," PIT spokesperson Bob Kerlik confirmed to Axios on Monday.
By the numbers: ICE agents have been deployed to more than a dozen airports, CNN reports.
- DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said more than 3,400 TSA agents across U.S. airports called out Sunday, an 11.8% absence rate and the highest of the shutdown.
- Bis said PIT had a call-out rate of 24.7% on Sunday.
- "President Trump is taking action to deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted," Bis said in a statement. "This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions."
Context: PIT has seen longer peak-time security lines but has so far avoided the heavy congestion facing airports like Houston and New Orleans as TSA workers call out sick, the Business Times reports.
- PIT had 2-minute wait times at security on Monday afternoon.
- PIT and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank have opened a food pantry to support unpaid TSA workers.
State of play: White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN's "State of the Union" that ICE agents would not operate X-ray machines but could guard exit lanes or handle crowd control to free up TSA officers.
- It takes four to six months to train and certify TSA officers, per DHS, a process ICE agents have not undergone.
- Trump on Truth Social said agents deployed to airports shouldn't wear masks — a departure from the tactic ICE uses while conducting immigration raids.
Friction point: Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato in a statement said ICE isn't needed at PIT, "where TSA lines have remained short and manageable."
- "Sending ICE into our public spaces and communities is never about safety and security threats and has led to racial profiling and harassment of our neighbors," she said. "Local ICE agents should skip the Pittsburgh International Airport, which is not requesting help."
The other side: Jaime Martinez, founder of immigrant rights' group Frontline Dignity, said "deploying ICE for political gamesmanship, while the government refuses to pay TSA workers, undermines that vision by injecting fear and confusion where there should be connection..."
What they're saying: "Federal agencies have not announced the exact plans for how ICE will operate at airports but our leadership team remains in close contact with our federal partners at TSA and others as well as local law enforcement with Allegheny County Police," Kerlik said in a statement.