Due to a partial government shutdown in the U.S., many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers are calling in sick or quitting over a lack of pay, resulting in long airport wait times. To help out, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel have being deployed to major U.S. airports starting March 23.
National Post reached out to Rosanna Berardi, managing partner of Buffalo-based Berardi Immigration Law, to ask what this means for Canadian travellers.
Why is ICE being deployed in this way?
“I think it’s an attempt by the administration to say, look, we’re trying to help out the situation,” says Berardi. “I think they might also be trying to rehabilitate the reputation of ICE. You know, we were seeing some really gory imaging at the beginning of the year.”
Is there a difference between ICE and TSA?
Very much so, beginning with the “vibe.” TSA personnel tend to wear blue shirts with police-type insignias and logos. ICE personnel go for black shirts with a bullet-proof vest and ICE in large letters on the back.
“They definitely look more enforcement oriented than TSA, which is more of a screening look,” says Berardi. “So, yeah, there is a different vibe and more authority at the airport.”
Does ICE have more power than TSA?
Absolutely, says Berardi. “They have the authority to arrest and detain. TSA does not have that authority. TSA is there to screen. If they find contraband, TSA then would turn that over to another law enforcement partner, whether it’s federal or state.”
Let’s says someone has an unregistered gun. “TSA doesn’t have the authority to charge that person with any type of crime, but they would have a companion law enforcement agency that they would defer to,” says Berardi.
“Whereas ICE is the judge and the jury. They can do the arrest, they can do the detainment. So they definitely have much more sweeping powers in terms of penalties than TSA ever would.”
Should Canadian travellers be worried?
Berardi gives the standard answer: Not if you have nothing to hide.
That said, the greater powers held by ICE means they can find things out that the TSA cannot, and then act on those things.
Bernardi takes the example of someone who is in the U.S. with an expired work permit.
“When you go through the airport with TSA in the United States, they are not looking to see if your work permit is valid,” says Berardi. “They are not trained to do that. They don’t have the authority to do that. They’re making sure that you have a passport or Nexus card to get on an airplane, but they are not looking behind those documents … They’re looking more for contraband, if you will.”
ICE, on the other hand, has the training and the authority to check immigration papers and similar documents. Their powers are in no way curtailed by the fact that they are working with TSA staff.
Could a traveller ask to deal with a TSA worker rather than ICE?
Berardi doesn’t recommend making that request.
“Law enforcement in general doesn’t like that kind of thing,” she says. “Wherever they wave you towards, I would definitely just go there. And if everything is above board, it should be pretty straightforward.”
Will ICE and the TSA work well together?
Berardi isn’t so sure, given that TSA workers are not getting paid.
“Wouldn’t you be mad if you were working for free and your colleague next to you is getting paid and has more authority?”
But that’s unlikely to affect travellers. And many of the most disgruntled TSA workers have already taken time off or quit, which is why ICE was brought in in the first place.
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