A NCS reporter was left surprised after safety checkpoint wait times dropped from hours to minutes at a significant Atlanta airport following President Trump’s deployed ICE agents to help unpaid TSA agents.
Senior National Correspondent Ryan Young reported in disbelief that the presence of unmasked immigration agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sparked a dramatic shift, with vacationers zipping by way of safety after weeks of grueling lines amid the partial government shutdown.
“Wolf, I almost can’t believe I’m able to say this, the times have dropped off tremendously this morning,” Young instructed anchor Wolf Blitzer Tuesday morning from inside the key journey hub.
“People were waiting an hour in line, now that is not the case. If you look at the main checkpoint here, it seems like there’s less than a dozen people. I don’t think people thought they were going to see the numbers where they are right now.”
The digicam then panned to the abandoned TSA checkpoint, the place few folks have been ready in line.
Young famous that Tuesday is usually a slower journey day at the Atlanta airport – earlier than highlighting the positive interactions ICE agents have had with vacationers since arriving Monday.
“They are patrolling the outside areas of the airport, keeping people safe, interacting with some of the people as they walk by but for the most part they have this defensive posture where they’re sort of just walking around and making the parameter is safe,” the correspondent added.
“So far the interactions between the people and the agents have been pretty nice cause they’re not wearing the masks.”
When requested by Blitzer if ICE agents are conducting immigration sweeps at the airport, Young mentioned he hasn’t seen a single officer ask for an ID or cease anybody. Instead, he mentioned, some agents are posted at TSA checkpoints, standing guard as passengers breeze by way of.
“We’ve never seen them take a license from anybody as well,” Young famous.
“The one area of the job that we have seen them do is every now and then they’ll stand – like this gentleman is – right behind some of the TSA agents, but not even interacting with the public. So he’s standing there guarding, but not taking any sort of boarding pass or ID from anyone.”
ICE agents were deployed Monday to help ease travel woes and hellish lines at about 14 airports nationwide, the place safety workers have been working with out pay since a partial authorities shutdown minimize Department of Homeland Security funding in February.
Over the weekend, TSA screener absences reached their highest degree because the partial shutdown started 5 weeks in the past, in response to the DHS.
While ICE agents at Atlanta’s airport have reportedly stored issues calm and shifting, footage from Monday showed hostile travelers at varied hubs chasing officers, shoving cameras of their face, or shouting at them as they labored.
Other clips have been far much less aggressive, with appreciative passengers seen shaking officers’ fingers and thanking them for his or her assist.