ICE agents deployed at Pittsburgh airport

TSA wait times Monday were roughly 5 to 20 minutes.

By MEGAN TROTTER
TribLive

Pittsburgh International Airport officials confirmed on Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were at the airport to receive training to aid Transportation Security Administration.

Allegheny Airport Authority spokesman Bob Kerlik said in a statement Monday that airport officials cannot control how federal agencies operate.

“Federal agencies have not announced the exact plans for how ICE will operate at airports but our leadership team remains in close contact with our federal partners at TSA and others as well as local law enforcement with Allegheny County Police,” Kerlik said.

This comes after President Donald Trump announced ICE agents would be deployed to airports across the country to help with TSA lines during the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security over a funding lapse.

Kerlik did not answer specific questions about how many ICE agents were at the airport, who will oversee ICE agents at the airport, what specific roles ICE agents will perform in TSA lines, or when travelers will begin to see them at the gates.

Kimberly Kraynak-Lambert, District 3 office manager for the American Federation of Government Employees, said TSA does not want ICE at the airport’s gates as morale within the union is at a low.

“The fact that (the government) is bringing in untrained ICE agents, who by the way are receiving a paycheck, to do the vital job that TSA Officers have been trained to do is unacceptable,” Kraynak-Lambert said.

A TribLive reporter reached out to Department of Homeland Security officials in Philadelphia for comment and received a statement.

Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Lauren Bis said in the statement that for operational security reasons, the department was “not going to confirm the locations” of ICE officers.

“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,” the statement said.

Department of Homeland Security officials did not respond to specific questions about what roles or jobs ICE agents will be filling or whether or not they are in uniform.

As of 1:30 p.m., there did not appear to be any marked ICE agents at the airport’s TSA gates.

Kerlik said that it was unlikely travelers would be seeing any agents on Monday.

Wait times at TSA ranged from roughly 5 to 20 minutes and travelers appeared to have no sense of urgency about getting through security.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato was not in a welcoming mood about the latest ICE development.

“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,” she said in a statement.” Sending ICE into our public spaces and communities is never about safety and security threats and has led to racial profiling and harassment of our neighbors” Traveler Isaac Mugula, who lives in Pittsburgh, said he thinks having ICE help is a good thing if it helps solve a problem and keeps the security lines moving.

“It’s not good for people to be waiting around,” said Mugula, 27.

Greensburg resident Rhonda Gifford, 57, thought TSA wait times were going to be longer after hearing that ICE was called into the airport.

Gifford described the situation as a “mixed bag” and said she wished TSA agents were being paid.

“If that would happen, then there would be no need for ICE agents to be here and honestly I would prefer to see TSA agents just doing the job that they’re supposed to do,” Gifford said.

Frontline Dignity founder Jaime Martinez said having ICE agents in the airport creates confusion.

“Our airport is meant to show the world the best of who we are — welcoming, forward-looking, and rooted in community. Deploying ICE for political gamesmanship, while the government refuses to pay TSA workers, undermines that vision by injecting fear and confusion where there should be connection, and turning a symbol of regional pride into a place of uncertainty for too many families,” Martinez said.