ICE Invades Airports Across the US

Over the past 24 hours, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents person invaded airports crossed the United States.

At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, the world’s busiest airport, videos and photographs amusement ICE agents lasting adjacent to information screening lines. At Chicago’s O’Hare airport, ICE agents are scattered astir check-in counters, according to videos shared online. At Newark Liberty International Airport successful New Jersey, ICE officers were seen walking done the main United Airlines terminal, wearing vests that said “ICE.” And astatine San Francisco International Airport, aggregate videos amusement what look to beryllium plainclothes instrumentality enforcement officers forcibly detaining a young pistillate arsenic dozens of onlookers ticker and film.

According to reporting from the New York Times, ICE is being deployed to 14 airports crossed the country, including John F. Kennedy airdrome and LaGuardia airdrome successful New York, arsenic good arsenic airports successful Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.

One of the eyewitnesses who captured the incidental astatine San Francisco’s airdrome tells WIRED she began filming aft proceeding a “horrible” shriek portion walking to her gate. The woman, who did not privation to beryllium named owed to privateness concerns, said it appeared that “two unidentified men” were grabbing “a pistillate trying to clasp onto her child.”

“I ran up and asked who they are with and if they are agents and for impervious of who they are,” the witnesser said. She said they ne'er fto her spot their badge numbers, and she yet called the police. “When [the San Francisco Police Department] arrived they surrounded the men detaining the pistillate and [wouldn’t] talk to anyone successful the assemblage asking for answers—just stared blankly ahead. SFPD each had disposable badge numbers truthful I asked them wherefore tin I spot their badge numbers and what bureau they are with but not these 2 unidentified men. They ne'er identified themselves and yet constabulary pushed the crowds distant and I near to drawback my flight.”

In different videos of the incident, the officers look to make a blockade betwixt the individuals arresting the pistillate and the onlookers. “People astir were visibly upset and shaken. Yelling astatine agents, calling them Nazis,” she said.

“It was perfectly horrifying to witnesser and I felt sick to my stomach,” the eyewitness told WIRED. “I didn’t slumber past nighttime erstwhile I got home.”

A spokesperson for San Francisco International airdrome confirmed to NBC San Francisco that national agents detained a pistillate astatine the airdrome connected Sunday, but said it was unrelated to the wider deployment of ICE agents to airports. SFPD did not respond to a petition for comment.

The ICE agents are ostensibly astatine these airports to assistance with agelong information lines caused by the partial authorities shutdown. Thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents person gone without wage since the extremity of January, and galore person stopped showing up to enactment oregon discontinue arsenic a result.

White House borderline czar Tom Homan said the deployment of ICE to US airports would assistance with filling these gaps, though successful a Truth Social station connected March 21, president Donald Trump said that ICE agents would beryllium doing “security similar nary 1 has ever seen before, including the contiguous apprehension of each Illegal Immigrants who person travel into our Country, with dense accent connected those from Somalia.” The Trump medication has targeted the Somali American community, peculiarly successful Minnesota, aft allegations of fraud successful immoderate of the state’s childcare centers led the medication to deploy immoderate 3,000 migration agents to the state.

The White House did not respond to a petition for comment.