Eliyahu Gasson | editor-in-chief

President Donald Trump deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) on Monday.

PIT is one of 13 airports the administration is sending ICE to in an effort to make up for a shortage of Transportation Security Administration workers across the country — the result of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.

“Just like Allegheny County does not need ICE agents patrolling our neighborhoods, we don’t need ICE at the airport where TSA lines have remained short and manageable,” Allegheny County Executive Sarah Innamorato said in a statement.

According to Acting Assistant Secretary for DHS Lauren Bis, Pittsburgh International had a 24.7% call off rate among TSA agents on Sunday. It is unclear what roles the ICE agents will take up for those TSA employees.

Innamorato said sending ICE into public spaces is “never” about safety and security.

“Local ICE agents should skip the Pittsburgh International Airport, which is not requesting help. Instead, ICE should investigate why a Haitian refugee in their custody died hours after she was released in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, and ensure tragedies like that don’t happen in Allegheny County again,” she said in a statement referring to Daphy Michel, a Haitian immigrant and resident of Charleroi who was found unresponsive at a South Side bus shelter blocks away from ICE’s Pittsburgh field office on March 2. This was days after she was taken into custody by the agency, according to reporting from TribLive. Michel died shortly after Pittsburgh Regional Transit Police responded.

What ICE is doing at airports

“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because they’re not trained in that, but there are certain parts of security that TSA’s doing, and we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs and help move those lines,” White House border czar Tom Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) spokesman Bob Kerlik said in an email to The Duke that security wait times have not seen a significant change as a result of the DHS shutdown.

“ACAA has deployed staff and volunteer ambassadors around the lines during peak times to help streamline the security screening experience for travelers to ensure they are in the correct lines, checking baggage when necessary and answering questions,” he said.

Bis would not confirm what ICE agents would do at airports while TSA agents go unpaid “for operational security reasons.”

“Because of the Democrat shutdown, President Trump is using every tool available to help American travelers who are facing hours-long lines at airports across the country — especially during this spring break and holiday season that is very important for many American families,” Bis’ statement continued.

Kimberly Kraynak-Lambert, District 3 manager for the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents TSA workers, told The Duke that, as far as she is aware, ICE agents will be tasked with crowd control and checking documents such as IDs, passports and boarding passes, the training for which could take about a week.

Kraynak-Lambert said she’s concerned that an elevated ICE presence in airports will cause trouble for travelers.

“If they are armed walking around the airports, I don’t think people are going to like that because right now people are afraid in general,” she said.

Why now?

In her statement, Bis laid blame for the DHS shutdown squarely at the feet of Congressional Democrats.

“While the Democrats continue to put the safety, dependability and ease of our air travel at risk, 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 said.

DHS has been in shutdown since Feb. 14 following Congress’ failure to reach an agreement on funding and reforms during federal budget negotiations earlier this year. The disagreement stems from a letter written by Congressional Democratic leaders to Republican leaders in which they demanded ICE reforms following the killings of two American citizens, Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, during “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis.

There were 10 demands listed in the letter such as: Banning ICE agents from wearing masks; requiring DHS officers conducting immigration enforcement to display their agency, ID number and last name while on duty; prohibit DHS officials from conducting stops, searches and questioning based on racial or ethnic profiles; and the official adoption of a use of force policy.

While other DHS agencies have been without funding since Feb. 14, ICE remains funded through Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act from last year, which allocated about $75 billion for the agency over four years.

Kraynak-Lambert said she wants to see DHS funding separated from partisan disputes about ICE. She said it’s unfair that TSA workers are asked to come to work without being paid.

“It’s really not fair to put them in the position that they’re in, that they are required to come to work every day and not get paid for protecting American people in our homeland. It makes no sense to me,” she said.

Travelers can monitor security wait times at PIT on their website: https://flypittsburgh.com/

Eliyahu Gasson can be reached at gassone@duq.edu