Federal immigration agents are free and clear to do what they see fit while working with members of the Transportation Security Administration at Southwest Florida International Airport. That’s the assessment of Cecil Pendergrass, a Lee County Commissioner and chairman of the Lee County Port Authority.
Commissioner Pendergrass’ comments about ICE at RSW came during a celebration Tuesday for the 100th anniversary of Matlacha, the restoration of two of the community's park facilities as well as for the conclusion of FDOT’s Little Pine Island Bridge Reconstruction project.
His message, at first, was simple:
“So my message to the Department of Homeland Security and to the White House was, we do not want any, basically, long lines here in Lee County. We want people to say the most important thing is your safety. So I'm encouraging all passengers do is be encouraged to, you know, get there early. 30 minutes are early," he said.
He stressed that the most important thing is passenger safety.
"But most important thing is to make sure that the flights, when they leave RSW, are safe. Your passengers are safe. And all this, all the passengers are being screened properly. That's the most important thing," he said. "But we're going to keep working with ICE. TSA is leading the coordination with ICE."
Pendergrass also put blame on some in congress for ICE being at RSW and said the airport was the only such facility in Florida to have the federal agents in place, so far.
"We're having to deal with this unfortunately because the rogue members of Congress who is failing to fund a bill to fund Homeland Security government," the commissioner said. "They want you as passengers to stay in line for hours so other people can cross the border without ID. but hopefully there's some SAVE AMERICA Act passes soon and be able to fund the agents."
Pendergrass also lauded local businesses for helping out TSA agents who have not been paid due to the partial government shutdown.
"Also like to thank the businesses here in Lee County that stepped up this last few weeks. Just recognize the TSA agents experiencing some pay delays. They will be paid in a later date. But meanwhile, bills still come in. They stop to eat. So the restaurants, different businesses, are saying, hey, we'll give you dinner. We'll give you a pizza," he said.
Pendergrass said the ICE agents are helping prevent anyone, such as a sleeper cell terrorist, from getting on planes at RSW. He describes just who among the airport’s travelers ICE agents could detain.
"Anybody that can't prove citizenship. If they come across that at the airport, they would be detained with their parents too," he said. "Certified agents are working the screening machine, doing that. They're there also to provide basically comfort for presence. Because just never know, even though what's going on Iran is 5,000 miles away. Sleeper cells. We want to make sure that nobody's getting on planes here. They can hurt or pass through here or somewhere else in the country."
Despite the ICE presence, the commissioner said there hasn’t really been an issue with a lack of TSA agents at RSW such as there has been at other airports around the U.S.
"They're just there for backup if they need it for something like I said, they'll be doing the technicals. They're not certified for the radar screens," Pendergrass said. "That's certain TSA agents for that. We haven't had any shortage of those agents."
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