(The Center Square) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Monday as security wait times continued to increase.
The airport posted on its website that passengers should arrive at least four hours before their flights. Hartsfield-Jackson is one of the world’s busiest airports.
Transportation security officers are working without pay as a partial U.S. government shutdown continues.
Democrats have demands for reforms on immigration enforcement, a desire to separate agencies within Homeland Security, and accountability. Republicans believe the department as constructed for cohesive consideration of national threats does not need changing, and the House of Representatives has already passed bipartisan funding that isn’t able to get past Senate Democrats.
President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he was sending ICE agents to help with security needs. The agents will not assist with security lines or bag inspections, the president said.
“ICE agents have been sent to help TSA officers, who are not getting any paychecks during the partial government shutdown,” the Trump administration said Monday on its Rapid Response social media account. The shutdown “has led to very short staffing, very, very long lines in a lot of airports, and a whole lot of stress.”
Trump in a social media post said ICE agents at airports would not wear masks.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said he supported a bill by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., that would have allowed TSA agents to be paid while the partial shutdown continued.
“We all agree that TSA should be paid so what is the hold up? This is insanity,” Warnock said in a social media post.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., blamed the Trump administration for the long airport lines.
“While negotiations continue over ICE, there is no reason TSA should be held hostage,” Ossoff said in a news release. “Republicans must stop blocking TSA funding immediately.”
Ossoff’s Republican opponents in his reelection bid are blaming him.
“Jon Ossoff and Democrats caused this to protect illegal aliens. That’s it,” U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga, said on social media.
“Jon Ossoff doesn’t care about the TSA, Coast Guard, and CPB employees going without pay,” U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said. “He doesn’t care about the families waiting in hours long security lines missing their flights.”
Derek Dooley, another Republican candidate, said Ossoff cared more about the Democratic Party than the people of Georgia.
“And where is the rest of Congress? Get in a room and figure it out,” Dooley said on social media.
