Lone Candle

“”ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley previously said in a statement to USA TODAY. “TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints – skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.”

Early reports from some travelers indicated that ICE’s presence wasn’t doing much to improve conditions – and for some employees it may be more disruptive than helpful.

“The employees that actually work at the airport, they’re afraid of coming to work because they were afraid that their immigration status would cause them to be detained or removed from the airport,” Johnny Jones, secretary and treasurer of the Association of Federal Government Employees local 1040 representing TSA workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said in a March 24 press briefing. “A couple of restaurants did not actually open at the airport because they had no workers show up.”

While Harmon-Marshall doesn’t expect ICE’s presence to pose a risk to aviation security, it could have other adverse impacts. “What I do think their presence is going to do is intimidate the traveling public,” he said.”

https://travel.yahoo.com/advice/safety/articles/tsa-officers-skilled-eye-ices-070142424.html