ICE agents deployed at O’Hare as partial government shutdown continues to impact travelers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were present at O'Hare Airport on Monday, after the Trump administration said agents would be deployed to airports nationwide to help amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.
At least half a dozen agents in ICE gear were seen at Terminals 1, 2 and 3 around 10 a.m. Monday.
A day after saying he would use immigration officers for airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agreed on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, Trump made clear Sunday that he was going ahead with the plan to assist the Transportation Security Administration.
O’Hare was among 14 airports included in a list of where ICE agents would be present to assist, according to CNN. Department of Homeland Security acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement, “For operational security reasons, we are not going to confirm the locations of our officers," but flagged nine major airports, including Baltimore/Washington Airport in Maryland and John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as having high TSA worker callout rates on Sunday.
Midway Airport was not on that list.
Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed concerns over ICE agents reporting to O'Hare and expected about 75 agents to arrive to O'Hare in shifts throughout Monday.
"We will closely monitor the deployment and use every tool we have to ensure that people, no matter their immigration status, can travel to and from Chicago safely and without harassment from the federal government," Johnson said in a statement. "In Chicago, we’re going to keep standing on transparency, dignity, and the right to move freely without threat and intimidation by ICE agents."
ICE personnel were expected to conduct "non-screening support functions" like monitoring exit lanes, making announcements, assisiting with line management and "related activities intended to allow TSA officers to remain focused on passenger and baggage screening," the statement said.
Department of Homeland Security officials didn’t immediately respond to request for comment regarding the expected number of ICE agents assisting at O'Hare.
Luke Hoover and Mary Dickey, of North Center, were on their way to New Zealand for their honeymoon and got to O'Hare three hours early for their flight after bracing for possible delays stemming from the partial government shutdown.
"It gives us pause, [we're] not a big fan of it," Hoover said of ICE agents at O'Hare. "We figured with that plus TSA just being a bit of a mess lately, we'd get here early and ready to go."
"Just [the] TSA process alone, having people who aren’t trained in the process trying to expedite the process, just doesn’t make sense to me," Dickey added.
Abdul Qahar Karimi saw two armed ICE agents as he exited his flight to Chicago from Omaha, Nebraska. Karimi, a 27-year-old truck driver in town for work, had friends who were green card holders detained in Omaha.
"[The ICE agents] didn’t ask me, or didn’t tell me anything or search me," Karimi said.
Though the agents being there didn’t make Karimi feel any less safe, he still prefers they be away from airports across the country.
"They shouldn’t be here because the airport itself has its own security, their own police," Karimi said. "They're doing violent things to U.S. citizens and citizens from other countries, so I don’t think it's proper [for them] to be here."
White House border czar Tom Homan said during Sunday news show interviews that ICE's increased role at airports was subject to discussions with the leadership of the agency and the TSA “to find out where we can fit in.” Immigration officers, as an example, could cover exits currently monitored by TSA agents, freeing them to work screening lines, or have ICE agents check identification before people enter screenings areas.
During an appearance on Chris Cuomo’s SiriusXM show Monday, Homan expanded on how ICE agents will work with airport security and predicted that agents will be met with protesters.
"We're going to first send out to the biggest airports with the biggest wait lines," Homan told the program’s executive producer, Alexandra “Dusty” Cohen.
When asked if that meant he was already preparing for protests, Homan responded, "I'm sure there will be. You know in the bigger cities where there's been issues in the past, I expect there's going to be protests outside the airport.”
No ICE agents were spotted at Midway, but some travelers still felt impacted.
Anayeli Castro, who was waiting for her husband by the security checkpoint with her two young kids, had heard online that they should arrive at least four hours early. She tried checking the TSA app to see how long the security line was but the app was not updating the wait time.
“I'm here three hours before, luckily the lines are not long right now,” Castro said. “We normally arrive two hours early but I when heard you have to be here four to five hours early, I was freaking out.”
She also saw on social media that ICE agents could be deployed to Chicago airports.
“They're ICE agents. It's different from TSA, so it does kind of freak you out a little bit," Castro said. “I am an immigrant, so it's scary but it seems pretty calm right now.”
Lori Houzer found a place to sit at Midway while she waited to check her bags for her flight to Canada. She said she followed recommended instructions to arrive three to four hours beforehand, but despite the early arrival there were no staff to check in passengers.
“I would have arrived, max, two hours early if I'm checking luggage, which is more than enough time, sometimes an hour and a half,” she said. “Now it's at least two hours more, and that's if things go well.”
Houzer said she kept up with the news and knew TSA agents were not getting paid due to the government shutdown.
“People should get paid because not only is it incorrect to ask people who already aren't earning very much money to get no money, but also what is their motivation for doing their job really well?” she said. “It's a security job. I would like people to take it seriously.”
She isn’t worried about ICE agents being at airports, but she does think it’s a bad use of government funds.
“They're gonna pay ICE but they're not gonna pay regular people?” she questioned. “I'm also Canadian. I don't really understand it very well.”
TSA union officials raised concerns over passenger security with ICE agents present.
“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,” Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement Sunday. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contributing: Violet Miller, Alex Degman
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