(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — In response to President Trump’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents to Airports to help with long security lines caused by Congress’ refusal to pass a measure that would pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Employees, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley, whose Union represents TSA Officers, issued the following statement:

More than 50,000 TSA Employees have worked without pay for over five weeks. Hundreds have quit. And Washington’s answer isn’t to pay them. It’s to send ICE Agents to do their jobs. ICE Agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. 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 on-going recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one. Our Members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe. They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed Agents who have shown how dangerous they can be. Congress has the power to fund TSA today. It’s time for them to stop playing politics and do their jobs.

The AFGE is the largest Federal Employee Union, representing 820,000 Workers in the Federal Government and the Government of the District of Columbia.

Photo Courtesy Of The National AFL-CIO.