Protesters demanded the immediate withdrawal of all Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they marched with signs inside Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport on March 30.<\/p>\n
The group of about 40 protesters shouted “Shut it down!” as they held up signs and marched inside Terminal 4 around 6 p.m. Other members of the group listened to speeches inside the terminal from community organizers and labor rights advocates.<\/p>\n
After marching for a bit, the group left the airport shortly before 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sky Harbor was one of several airports where ICE officers were deployed last week with the intent of helping address long wait times after a partial government shutdown left Transportation Security Administration<\/a> employees going unpaid for more than a month, though some are skeptical of how much they’re helping.<\/p>\n ICE officers were seen at Sky Harbor on March 23 at both Terminals 3 and 4. The protesters were also calling for the federal government to freeze ICE’s funding.<\/p>\n Hours-long waits have drawn on at several airports across the country, with many seeing the longest wait times in the agency’s history.<\/p>\n See ICE agents fill in for missing TSA agents at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport<\/p>\n 1 of 3<\/p>\n Up until March 30, TSA workers were not getting paid during a partial government shutdown caused by gridlock over the Department of Homeland Security’s budget, the federal agency that oversees ICE officers.<\/p>\n Most TSA workers should soon receive back paychecks if they haven’t already, according to DHS, but it could take longer before airports return to a sense of normalcy. More than 500 TSA officers have quit since the government shutdown began, according to the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council.<\/p>\n As of the afternoon of March 30, TSA wait times were typical at Sky Harbor, ranging from 7 to 9 minutes depending on which checkpoint a traveler used.<\/p>\n Reporter Ray Stern contributed to this article.<\/p>\n Reach the reporter Helen Rummel at hrummel@azcentral.com.<\/p>\n