ICE agents flood Sky Harbor airport, kinda just stand around

It was a largely normal morning at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Travelers hustled from one gate to another, lines formed to check bags and people bought overpriced coffee, snacks and magazines from airport shops.

And then there were the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. OK, they were new.

Monday morning, dozens of ICE agents descended upon the airport in a poorly explained effort by the Trump administration to alleviate airport security staffing issues resulting from a partial government shutdown. Notably unmasked, the agents could be seen assisting Transportation Security Administration officers at security checkpoints. Others just stood around. After all, lines weren’t particularly long.

ICE did not clearly explain the agents’ assigned duties when asked by Phoenix New Times, nor did it say how long the agents might be deployed in such a capacity. Whatever their purpose, their presence left travelers and airport employees bemused, confused and, in some cases, nervous.

In Terminal 4, one agent in a bulletproof vest and an ICE patch directed traffic for travelers entering security checkpoint lines. Another stood near body scanners at a different checkpoint in the same terminal, but it was unclear what he was doing. 

Around 11:30 a.m. at Terminal 3, more than 30 ICE agents exited the security checkpoint, took the escalator down to the first-floor entrance near the Delta ticketing desk and stood outside by the curb. Eventually, they came back inside to stand around some more. Two legal observers from a local organizing group approached the agents to record video.

When approached by New Times, one agent declined to give his name and directed New Times to reach out to ICE’s public information office at the Phoenix Field Office for comment. Still, he said, “It’s been very pleasant, very pleasant.”

Nearly an hour later, many of those agents returned to the Terminal 3 checkpoint, while a dozen or so got onto a white ICE bus. 

An odd airport sight

Paco Sanchez was standing with his luggage by the security checkpoint when a roughly a dozen heavily armed agents walked by him in a single file line, which he said was “really weird.” Sanchez said he’s “not excited to see them in the airport.” As he waited for a flight back home to Chicago, he kept his passport in hand due to ICE’s presence.

“I was worried about what they might do, because they have a really bad track record with not really controlling their emotions,” Sanchez said. “They kind of tend to lash out at certain times, and the airport is full of those experiences.”

Brian McClard flew in from Atlanta, where ICE agents were also deployed Monday. He wasn’t paying much attention to their activity as he went through security in Atlanta. They were “just kind of walking around,” he said, and he questioned how ICE agents would actually be able to speed up security lines and help travelers. His security line in Atlanta was still “awful” and “crazy,” taking him three hours to get through. With TSA PreCheck, it typically takes McClard only five minutes.

“I didn’t see any evidence that they sped up or were helpful in any way,” McClard said about the ICE agents, though he characterized himself as “indifferent” about their presence. “I wish they would fund TSA and then work out their differences. Right now, they’re trying to apply political pressure.”

Others were unconcerned. A traveller who asked to be identified only as Joe said he didn’t care about ICE’s presence. Ally Massie, a traveler from Kansas City, didn’t know ICE was at the airport, but didn’t think it was “really necessary.” Kathy, a Phoenix resident who arrived from South Dakota on Monday afternoon, said she had “absolutely no problem” with ICE at the airport. “All the help they can get, the better,” she said.

Leaders with the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Local 1250, which represents TSA officers at the airport, were more skeptical. Pascual Contreras, the assistant director of political and legislative affairs for the local, said at an airport press conference that ICE agents aren’t “trained in a way that they can help us.”

“Our training is more job-specific,” said Contereras, who also works as a TSA agent. “We’re trained how to handle the public in a way that doesn’t aggravate the situation.”

ICE agents certainly have a reputation for aggravating situations, though Local 1250 vice president Javier Casarez told New Times he’d mostly seen ICE agents “just walking back and forth” and “not really doing much” at Sky Harbor. He added that TSA employees weren’t initially notified directly by their superiors that ICE would be at the airport on Monday. Instead, TSA personnel — who haven’t been paid in more than a month due to the shutdown — heard it through the rumor mill or the media.

Lawmaker pushback

The ICE deployment is facing pushback from Democrats, who continue to feud with Republicans about how — and under what conditions — to fund the Department of Homeland Security and its subdivisions.

In a letter to outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego pushed back against the ICE rollout in Sky Harbor and demanded answers from DHS about the decision to deploy them, which Gallego wrote was “fueling further chaos.” He demanded detailed information about the number of TSA employees who’ve resigned or called out — TSA has said its callout rate at Sky Harbor is about 20% — what relevant training ICE agents have received and if the agents will conduct immigration enforcement activities as well.

Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton, who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, held a quickly arranged press conference in front of a security checkpoint. He questioned the need for federal immigration officials at Sky Harbor, adding that ICE has “no place in American airports” and needs to be “changed and reformed.”

He demanded that President Donald Trump endorse a bipartisan budget bill, promoted by GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to fund all parts of DHS except for ICE. Democrats are holding up funding for ICE in order to push for reforms after agents killed two U.S. citizens in January. Trump has come out against the proposition of funding TSA and other DHS subagencies while lawmakers negotiate over ICE.

“ICE is not trained to do the work of TSA agents,” Stanton said. “TSA agents are specially trained. They know what they’re doing. They’re outstanding at their work, and they cannot be easily replaced by ICE agents.”