Will ICE Agents Be Heading To Logan Airport In Boston?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began deploying to airports across the country Monday, but officials say Boston's Logan International Airport is not currently on the list.

President Trump announced the move Sunday on social media, saying ICE would go to airports to assist Transportation Security Administration agents who have been working without pay during a partial government shutdown now entering its seventh week.

Congress has failed to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both TSA and ICE. More than 400 TSA officers have quit nationally since paychecks stopped, and thousands more have called out of work.

White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed Monday that ICE agents would be deployed to 14 airports, prioritizing large hubs with the longest security lines — some stretching three hours or more. Cities on the list include New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston and Newark. Logan is not among them.

The reason may be simple: Logan has largely avoided the chaos hitting other airports. Massport, the authority that runs Logan, said Monday that TSA operations at the airport remain normal and that it has seen no impacts at checkpoints due to the shutdown. Roughly 1,000 TSA employees work at Logan. -wbur.org

Mike Gayzagian, president of the New England TSA Officers' Union, said his members have received no official word about ICE coming to any airport in the region. He described morale among workers as "extremely low," particularly as another missed paycheck approaches. -bostonglobe.com

At Logan, the role of ICE agents, if they do arrive, would likely involve covering exits and entry points, freeing up TSA agents to focus on screening lines. Homan said ICE agents would not operate X-ray equipment, as they are not trained for that work.

For now, Massachusetts travelers can expect Logan to operate normally.