Trump criticised for using ICE agents in bid to cut long US airport queues

The Trump administration is to deploy US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at airports in a bid to cut queues at security checkpoints.

The union that represents Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers criticised the move, saying staff "deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents".

Passengers have faced long airport security queues in recent days due to a continuing partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

TSA officers, who carry out security checks at US airports, have not been paid since February 14, leading to staff walkouts and resulting lines at airport security.

Democrats last month vowed to shut down the Department of Homeland Security until Republicans agreed to new checks on ICE agents, such as requiring them to wear identification and banning them from wearing face coverings.

The move followed the killing of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers after 2,000 ICE agents were deployed to Minneapolis at the start of the year.

President Donald Trump posted on social media that ICE agents will go to airports on Monday, while border tsar Tom Homan told broadcaster CNN that his team was working out the details of the plan.

Homan suggested ICE agents would cover entry and exit points so "that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines". 

But Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union representing TSA officers, said: “More than 50,000 TSA employees have worked without pay for over five weeks. Hundreds have quit. And Washington’s answer isn’t to pay them. It’s to send ICE agents to do their jobs.

“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints - skills that require specialised instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing re-certification.

“You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.

“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe. They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.

“Congress has the power to fund TSA today. It’s time for them to stop playing politics and do their jobs.”