President Trump announced on Sunday that ICE officers would be sent to fourteen airports across the country to fill in for TSA employees who aren’t working during the government shutdown.
KALW spoke to travelers flying in from affected airports. No one said they saw ICE, but they were anxious they would. They were also worried about the long lines.
Scott Russell, arriving from LaGuardia commented on the lines, saying, “[they] are about three times as long as they have been. New York I think is really heavily affected by it. Um, it's just time that they pay them.”
Chelsea Matthews, who came from JFK, says she’s seen agents at the airport before, but “Today was like the first day that they were gonna be standing behind TSA when people are checking their passports, which is unnerving… I don’t like it. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't think they should be there.”
The news of ICE deployments coincided with a woman and her daughter being arrested at SFO on Sunday night by plainclothes ICE officers.
SFO’s information officer, Doug Yakel, told KALW in an email:
“We believe this is an isolated incident and have no reason to suspect broader enforcement action at SFO. We were not involved in or notified in advance of this incident.”
SFO is one of twenty U.S. airports that use private contractors, rather than federal TSA employees. That means they don’t need ICE agents to fill in during the shutdown.
In a statement on Instagram San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie called Sunday night’s incident “upsetting” and emphasized San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy writing, “Local law enforcement does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement. These policies keep us safe and will not change as long as I’m mayor.”
Videos posted online show SFPD surrounding the ICE officers while they carry out the arrest. San Franciscans have been raising questions about whether SFPD’s behavior counts as aiding the ICE operation.
