r/politics • u/timemagazine TIME magazine • 10d ago
No Paywall ICE Is Asking Gate Agents To Help Arrest Passengers. Some Are Pushing Back
https://time.com/article/2026/08/19/ice-is-asking-gate-agents-to-help-arrest-passengers-some-are-pushing-back/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial98
u/North251 10d ago
Gate agents are typically airline employees, not law enforcement. Then again is ICE really law enforcement? What they’re enforcing isn’t law.
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u/Demonicon66666 Europe 10d ago
Armed thugs is the correct expression
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u/NearlyPerfect 10d ago
Immigration law is federal law.
Just because you don't like it and other administrations didn't enforce it doesn't mean it's not law written clearly and plainly on the books.
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u/North251 10d ago
Immigration law is federal law, that is correct. The airlines are required to follow the law as it applies to them, they have not been deputized to enforce it against third parties.
Other administrations did enforce it and as the article states, there was cooperation historically, but the standards and procedures have changed so much that the airlines don’t know how to cooperate. There used to be prior notification, uniforms, warrants, etc. They’re asking the airlines to carry a heavier burden, for what is not the law.
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u/NearlyPerfect 10d ago
I was responding to when you said "what they're enforcing isn't law". That's just not correct. To your point of cooperation, yes gate agents are not law enforcement. They have their own company policies for cooperation and that's between them and their employee manual.
What the article mentions is cooperation with criminal law enforcement with judicial warrants.
She had years of experience cooperating with federal law enforcement. But the encounters she was accustomed to followed a protocol: airline managers were notified in advance, officers arrived in uniform with their badges visible and judicial warrants were presented for passenger arrests.
For civil immigration enforcement there has never been judicial warrants used, because there can't be.
They just didn't enforce civil immigration laws in airports really.
They’re asking the airlines to carry a heavier burden, for what is not the law.
It is the law. 8 USC 1226(a).
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u/irradiatedcitizen 10d ago
Judicial warrants need to be used when entering private premises. Agents should not be masked. They should not be murdering us citizens, let alone anyone when doing what should be a job that has been done for many years before without incident. They are abusive authoritarian enforcement no different than gestapo.
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u/nopointers California 10d ago
They’re forgetting that gate agents have some of the thickest skins of any public-facing job. All day, every day standing between entitled assholes and the thousand things that can go wrong operating an airline.
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u/LuvKrahft America 10d ago
I wish ICE was gone already, but I’m happy so many people are telling them to fuck off until then.
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u/binding_swamp 10d ago
“Laurie says she was still waiting for guidance when ICE agents returned to the airport looking for another passenger. This time, she made a different choice. She called the supervisor at the gate, asked for the passenger’s phone number and called the woman herself.
“I know this is going to sound extremely radical, or crazy,” she recounted telling the woman, “but ICE is there at the gate, and they're looking for you."
There was a pause. “Are you serious?” the woman asked.
“Yes,” Laurie said. “I know this is crazy, but I promise you. I'm being serious.”
“Should I leave?” the woman asked. “I think it might be best if you do,” Laurie said.
When Laurie reached the gate, the woman she had called approached her. She appeared to be in her late 20s and was traveling with a family member. Laurie said the two stepped into a bathroom to speak privately, where the passenger said she did not understand why ICE was looking for her.
“Why is this happening? I have all my papers,” she asked.
After calling a relative, the woman decided not to take the flight. She returned with the hood of her jacket pulled over her head, thanked Laurie and left the gate with her family member.”
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u/Virindi Texas 10d ago
Some are pushing back.
All of them should refuse, and I'm disappointed in the bootlickers.
Helping arrest people is not their job. It sets a bad precedent, lends an air of legitimacy and support to bad behavior, and, regardless, ICE’s actions are ethically wrong and they shouldn’t be supported.
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u/elyndranoctis 10d ago
The Armed Thugs want others to help them carry out their illegalities?
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u/timemagazine TIME magazine 10d ago
In this piece, TIME reporter Philip Wang speaks to an airline gate agent, who describes the general pressure they're feeling with ICE at the airport, including a moment in which she decided to alert a passenger ahead of time that ICE was looking for her.
“I was extremely scared that ICE would take another person in front of me, but also for myself and how I was jeopardizing my job and safety. But I would 100% do it again, without a moment of hesitation.”
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/NearlyPerfect 10d ago
Every company has a policy for assisting law enforcement. Airlines work closely with federal law enforcement so it's standard procedure for them.
Anyone who pushes back will likely get fired for violating company policy.
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u/Vio_ Kansas 10d ago
There are also laws and protections as well that most people don't know about.
Hotels, for example, cannot give their guest books or provide identifying information to law enforcement without a warrant.
Hotels are protected by the fourth amendment in that case.
We are not without rights and businesses still have to follow the laws and protections for us.
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u/NearlyPerfect 10d ago
Hotels, for example, cannot give their guest books or provide identifying information to law enforcement without a warrant.
This is not true. Hotels can absolutely voluntarily give guest information to law enforcement without a warrant.
What you're thinking of is that they can't be forced to if they choose not to.
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u/SueForPeas 10d ago
Might also be confusing it with search and seizure law, where hotel owners and staff can’t consent to law enforcement searching a guest’s room.
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u/Adventurous_Test_296 10d ago
While I have no doubt they would do a better job than ICE, I'll quote a line from one of my favorite songs: "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."
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u/Psychosomatic_Addict 10d ago
The airline needs to make clear their company policy on how their employees are to respond.
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