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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began to deploy to major airports across the country on Monday, helping to fill the void as thousands of security staff who are going without pay refuse to work amid an ongoing budget standoff between the White House and congressional Democrats.
Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding comprehensive reforms within ICE before they agree to fund its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
The push comes after ICE agents fatally shot two American protesters earlier this year amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are increasingly absent, having not received pay in weeks due to a partial government shutdown that began on 14 February.
Their absence has created huge queues and hours-long wait times at airport security checkpoints. More than 3,400 TSA agents called out of work on Sunday.
There has so far been little sign of progress in negotiations, even as thousands of TSA agents have worked without pay since February 14.
“This pointless, reckless shutdown of our homeland security workforce has caused more than 400 TSA officers to quit and thousands to call out from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to Anadolu news agency.
“President Trump is taking action to deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted. This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions,” she added.
The resignations and call-outs have exacerbated wait times at some US airports, where security lines have, in some cases, extended for hours as passengers slowly make their way through sprawling, labyrinthine queues.
On Monday, White House border tsar Tom Homan said hundreds of ICE agents had been deployed to 14 airports in cities including New York, Atlanta and Houston.
Photos of the agents showed them at New York's John F Kennedy airport and Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, Georgia, among others.
It is unclear if the push will be expanded, but Trump appeared to acknowledge earlier Monday that his decision to send ICE agents into American airports is fueled in part by his desire to expand his immigrant roundup.
At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, 42.3% of TSA staff called to say they would be absent on Sunday, and at Hartsfield-Jackson, 41.5% of staff called out, according to figures obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS.
More than one-third of staff called out sick at three other airports the same day, including George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston, Texas, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Airline passengers at some airports on Monday were told to arrive at least three or four hours early to allow time for expected delays.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said wait times have become so long that travellers are "sleeping in the airport" to avoid missing flights.
In a letter sent to Congress on Monday, over 100 airport leaders signed a statement saying they were "deeply concerned about the growing operational disruptions".
"The impacts of the shutdown are significant, growing, and potentially long-lasting," the letter sent by Airports Council International said. "We urge you to take action to immediately end the shutdown."
Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said ICE agents would be at airports to "help support" staff in "non-specialised security functions", freeing TSA agents to focus more on "aviation security specifically".
"We are hoping they can be a force multiplier," Stahl said, in an interview with Fox News.
Homan, meanwhile, said over the weekend that ICE agents would support crowd control and would not be directly involved in screening passengers.
The deployment of ICE agents to American airports is happening amid a decline in public support for the agency over its immigration enforcement activities.
Meanwhile, DHS employees, including TSA and other agencies, will continue to go without pay.
On Friday, TSA agents will miss their second paycheck, according to federal pay schedules. That is also the last day Congress is scheduled to be in session before a two-week recess begins. — Agencies
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