A La Guardia TSA Agent Tells All

[demmiblue]

It’s a bad time to be a Transportation Security Officer at La Guardia. A fatal crash closed the airport Monday morning, leaving travelers with canceled flights and winding, hourslong security lines — which only compounded the challenges of week five of a government shutdown that has forced TSA officers to show up to work without pay with many callouts and some agents even quitting. (This is the third shutdown in less than a year.) Oh, and this week marked the beginning of President Trump’s plan to send ICE agents to airports, including La Guardia, to “help.” We talked to Kyle Pigott, a TSA officer at La Guardia and the vice-president of Local 2222, about the current madness — and what advice he has for people braving airline travel right now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How has it been working through your third government shutdown?

The sad thing is it’s tough but it’s not a surprise. We’ve been furloughed over 90 days. That’s ridiculous. Right now, I’m missing two and a half checks. Some people have taken out unemployment assistance. Some people have relied on predatory loans to get by. You have to pay off your car, you have to pay your mortgage. I had to apply for food stamps a couple weeks ago. It’s embarrassing as a federal employee for ten years. And I don’t even have children.

…

What is ICE actually doing there?

They’re the reason that we’re not getting paid. And now I’m working next to that person. And they’re getting paid to do nothing. They’re not trained. It takes six months to train a Transportation Security Officer. They’ve received none of that. A tweet went out and the next day they’re at the airport walking around sipping coffees, holding on to their vest. They arrived on Monday, and now they’re hanging out in the break room doing nothing. They’re warming up their lunch. I don’t know what you’re hungry from — you didn’t do anything! We already have Federal Air Marshal police and Port Authority police, so there’s already ten armed officers at any given moment.

Are the ICE agents armed too?

Why do you need your vest and gun to move a line? That’s weird. If police said they were going to come in and help you move a bag or a tray, I don’t think they’d come in riot gear. It’s gonna make anybody feel uncomfortable. Don’t you guys have ICE T-shirts? Don’t they have ICE polos?

https://www.curbed.com/article/tsa-laguardia-airport-shutdown-lines-tips.html

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Project 2025

Project 2025 actually has a section about defunding DHS so they can stop paying TSA and get people to quit with the ultimate goal being to privatize the TSA.

[Dr. T]

3. Privatize the TSA. It's worked so well with the privatized prison system.

Corruption and extortion abounds.

[TBF]

9. Which is absolutely bizarre -

I know you remember that Bush created TSA after 9/11.

Prior to that I could be late for a plane, run through the airport, and still get my seat because no one cared.

And you're correct - they'll privatize it along with the usps - and both will be over-expensive crap.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Republicans love the idea of ICE thugs armed to the teeth watching over the riff raff in public spaces.

[yardwork]

4. Racism is at the heart of a lot of our problems.

There are plenty of people who don't want to have to interact or share spaces with anybody who looks or talks differently from them.

[FakeNoose]

11. The billionaire overlords will then be allowed to carry their own concealed firearms

... or at least their bodyguards will be armed. It's all part of the plan to protect the wealthy Christian males from the rest of us riff-raff.

[Mr.Bee]

5. ICE agents in the airports

is a metaphor for trump in the White House.

[usonian]

6. We're not yelling at Republicans enough over security lines and ICE in airports.

https://indivisible.actionkit.com/mailings/view/124914



DU'er,

We’re forty days into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, and Republicans are beginning to buckle under the pressure.

Here’s where we’re at:

• Back in January, Republicans tried to jam through a DHS funding bill that gave ICE and Border Patrol more money to terrorize our communities.

• Democrats said that was a no go and tried to negotiate a bill that would place significant restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol.

• Republicans balked and decided they’d rather shut down DHS than hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable for killing civilians and terrorizing our communities.

• Last week, Republicans started relenting and supporting Democratic proposals to fund parts of DHS (TSA, FEMA, etc) separately from ICE and Border Patrol.

• A deal was apparently reached over the weekend to fund TSA, but Trump killed it. Instead he put ICE in airports, adding to the danger and mayhem.

• Earlier this week, Trump and Republicans negotiated a new, terrible proposal that’d give ICE and Border Patrol more money, with few or no reforms. Everyone is slamming the deal.

So now, there’s mayhem at airports, TSA workers are about to miss another paycheck, and frustrated travelers are being confronted with ICE agents in security lines. And oh yeah -- spring break is coming.

Democrats have held the political and moral high ground in this fight all along. But now, the public is really paying attention -- giving us an opportunity to turn up the heat on the GOP.

It’s vital to this overall DHS fight that Republicans understand the public blames them for these travel nightmares. Call your Republican representative now, and tell them to cut the crap and back Democratic legislation to fund TSA.
https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-your-republican-rep-stop-holding-tsa-funding-hostage/

If you don't like the terms at the link, here's a script to adapt:

Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State].

I’m calling to urge Representative [NAME] to get ICE out of airports and pass the Democratic proposal to pay TSA agents. Stop holding TSA hostage while Congress negotiates reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. Will Representative [NAME] commit to signing the discharge petition to separate and pass funding for TSA?

Airport mayhem may increase the pressure on Republicans to negotiate with Democrats over ICE/Border Patrol, but unfortunately, wishy-washy Democrats are also susceptible to the same pressure. And there is a real risk, if this isn’t resolved, that some Democrats will cave and back a terrible DHS deal that does nothing to reform ICE and Border Patrol.

Taking airport mayhem off the table alleviates that risk. And while passing TSA funding might not bring us immediately closer to a bill that reins in ICE and Border Patrol, it buys more time to continue that fight -- and while we’re fighting, those thuggish agencies have to continue spending down their reserves. And paying TSA workers and getting ICE the hell out of airports? Those are good things, too.

Ultimately, turning up the heat on Republicans in this fight is the only way we win.

So call your representative today and tell them to stop holding TSA funding hostage. If you’ve got a recent security line nightmare story, work that in, and let them know you hold them responsible.
https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-your-republican-rep-stop-holding-tsa-funding-hostage/

Script to adapt.

Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State].

I’m calling to urge Representative [NAME] to get ICE out of airports and pass the Democratic proposal to pay TSA agents. Stop holding TSA hostage while Congress negotiates reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. Will Representative [NAME] commit to signing the discharge petition to separate and pass funding for TSA?

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

[bdamomma]

7. Do not

Normalize this crap. We don't need ICE in our daily life.

[Ford_Prefect]

8. ICE wears the gun and vest because they KNOW they won't make it out of the room otherwise.

They're so afraid because they know the mob would tear them to pieces after what they have done in L.A., Portland, and Minneapolis. They don't dare show up anywhere now without armed backup.
The sad thing is that's not hype. They've earned the emnity they face. They're proud of how mean and dangerous they've been.
They're too stupid to realize that thirst time the mob fights back because some arragant fool pushed too much will be the time when guns and vests won't be nearly enough and there will be pieces of ICE agents on the ground.
It will also be the last time they will be able to show up in public without police escorts to protect them, except for the day when a prosecutor, judge and jury are demanding answers.

[orleans]

10. a few pics