ICE agents deployed to RSW
According to Lee County Port Authority Board Chairman Cecil Pendergrass, Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is the only airport in the state where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been deployed, which began Monday, March 23. He said the agents are currently working to keep lines down, with safety as the most important priority. Passengers are being encouraged to come early for their flights, especially in this busy travel season of Easter.
“All the passengers are safe — that all the passengers are screened properly is the most important thing,” Pendergrass said.
His message to Homeland Security and the White House, he said, was to let them know that the folks in Lee County are safe. TSA will continue to lead the coordination with ICE, along with the assistance of Port Authority, he said, emphasizing that ICE agents are only there for backup at this point.
Pendergrass, who also represents District 2 and is chairman of the Board of Lee County Commissioners, shared that some of the ICE agents at RSW were even answering questions for passengers, rather than asking any. As of Monday, he said, they were asking people very common conversational questions, such as where they were from and what they did.
The most important thing for all of Southwest Florida to know, he said, is to be patient, even if you’re at the end of the line.
“I’d also like to stop and thank the businesses here in Lee County, that have stepped up these last few weeks to recognize the TSA agents that have experienced some pay delays,” Pendergrass said, assuring that these agents will be paid at a later date, while recognizing businesses who’ve gone out of their way to support the agents with food or in other ways.
There was no reason that drove the decision to employ the ICE agents to come to RSW, he said, just an opportunity to have all hands on deck, which he mentioned was his message to DHS and again, the White House.
The TSA job is one that Pendergrass described as thankless. So far, he said, the ICE agents he’s seen are local.
Anyone coming through the airport without legal citizenship runs the risk of being detained, he said.
Overall, Pendergrass wants residents to know they’re safe as they travel to and from Lee County this season.
“We’re on top of this,” Pendergrass said.