Why are ICE agents at airports while TSA agents remain unpaid?

Negotiations to end the partial government shutdown and pay TSA agents have hit a snag on Capitol Hill. A GOP proposal would fund all of the Department of Homeland Security, except for ICE immigration enforcement and removal operations. Democrats don’t want any money for ICE without reforms, like requiring ICE agents to take off their masks.

Meanwhile, TSA agents have been working without pay for more than a month, leading some to call in sick. ICE agents started arriving at airports on Monday to assist with security lines.

DHS won’t say where exactly the ICE agents were deployed or what exactly their duties are. At a press briefing yesterday, TSA agents represented by the American Federation of Government Employees said they’re not sure why ICE agents have been sent to airports.

“They are literally standing behind the officers while they’re checking documents and screening passengers or walking the queue line that cascades through the airport,” said Aaron Barker, the union’s local president at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta.

ICE agents wouldn’t even know what to look for if they were running an X-ray machine, according to Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA employees’ union local at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

He said it takes four to six months to train a TSA officer. “See, we’re trying to detect IEDs, weapons, and stuff of that nature.”

The ICE agents are being paid through last summer’s tax and spending bill, but TSA agents aren’t getting paychecks. Union reps said they’re juggling child care, asking landlords for patience, and taking out short-term loans. Nonprofits are also stepping up to provide resources for unpaid TSA workers.

“There’s only so much that these people can take until there’s a breaking point,” said Sean Root, president of a local with members in California, Arizona, and Nevada. “And I think we’re at that breaking point.

If Congress and the White House don’t reach a deal this week, TSA agents will miss their third paycheck.