‘ICE, play nice’: Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner warns ICE agents deployed to airport amid government shutdown

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are now stationed at Philadelphia International Airport to support the Transportation Security Administration amid staffing shortages triggered by the partial government shutdown.

At a press conference at the airport on Tuesday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner warned ICE agents to “uphold the United States Constitution, uphold the laws.”

“ICE, play nice,” he said.

Krasner said he will prosecute ICE agents who commit crimes within his jurisdiction.

“That is how it works. No, I don’t take a phone call from the president saying, ‘Let him go.’ No, the president cannot pardon you,” he said.

The district attorney told agents that U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s statement in January that the officer who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis was “protected by absolute immunity” is not accurate. Krasner warned agents not to break the law.

“I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you in a courtroom, and, if necessary, I will put you in a jail cell if you decide to make the terrazzo floor of this airport anything like what you did in the streets of Minneapolis, which involved the criminal homicide of unarmed, innocent people,” he added.

Krasner said his message to immigrant residents is that the U.S. Constitution applies to them “almost as much as it applies to a U.S. citizen.”

“It is part of my job to uphold the law and Constitution of the United States and to protect everyone whom it protects. It protects you. So please know that I am here to protect everyone, including every immigrant who may wish to come here and may wish to travel or do whatever else they’re going to do,” he said.

Travelers at the airport on Tuesday afternoon had mixed reactions to the presence of ICE agents.

“I’m hoping that the TSA employees can get paid quickly to return to the job that they do so well,” said Lisa Turner, 54, a Philadelphia resident who was traveling to visit a friend in Denver, Colorado.

“I was just telling my daughter what an incredible job the TSA officers do at the Philadelphia Airport. They are the right kind of grumpy, which is Philly efficiency,” she added. “And it’s kind of the best of our city. So I really want them to get paid so that we could return to systems as normal.”

According to TSA, 10.93% of TSA agents called out nationwide Monday. PHL airport saw 19.7% of its TSA agents call out that same day.

At PHL airport on Tuesday afternoon, the security wait time was less than 10 minutes at all terminals.

Martin Jedlicka, 65, a film director trying to get home to Salt Lake City, Utah, rebooked his flight and took an Amtrak to Philadelphia after facing three cancelled flights and a TSA wait time in excess of four hours at LaGuardia Airport in New York, following a deadly collision on the runway that left two people dead.

“I think right now we have a dysfunctional, completely dysfunctional system, and I blame the incompetence of Sean Duffy at the [Federal Aviation Administration],” Jedlicka said. “He’s an idiot, and the deployment of ICE goons is pure political theater. They do nothing. All they do is just harass people and look for reasons to be violent. And my heart goes out to the poor TSA people who are caught in this sort of political theater.”

Some travelers said ICE agents were providing welcome support.

“I mean, help is needed,” said Bill Karbon, 65, of Hamilton, New Jersey. “Whatever ICE can do to help alleviate the lines, I’m all for it.”

Karbon said the shutdown is “very frustrating.”

“There doesn’t seem to be a concern that people are being very inconvenienced because of politics, and there’s not a strong desire to come to some kind of agreement,” he said.

How many ICE agents are stationed at PHL?

A spokesperson for the airport said in a statement that Philadelphia’s Department of Aviation “is aware that Immigration Customs Enforcement officers will be assisting TSA at PHL as the partial government shutdown has impacted their staffing levels.”

A spokesperson for the ICE field office in Philadelphia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how many agents are stationed at PHL.

DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said ICE agents are helping minimize the impacts of the shutdown.

“American travelers are facing HOURS long waits at airports across the country and more than 450 TSA officers quit and thousands have called out sick from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent,” she said in a statement. “While the Democrats continue to put the safety, dependability, and ease of our air travel at risk, President Trump is taking action to deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted. This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions.”

On Tuesday afternoon, at least five unmasked ICE agents stood in a circle near the entrance to the security line at Terminal D.

In a social media post, Trump asked ICE officers not to wear masks while stationed at airports.

What are their roles/duties?

Officials have said ICE agents are providing security and support so that TSA agents can perform more technical passenger screening. That includes guarding exit lanes or checking passenger IDs, Trump said.

There have been no reports of ICE agents making immigration-enforcement-related arrests while stationed at the airports to support TSA.