Two dead in NY jet collision, ICE deployed to airports
Two pilots died in a runway crash that forced the closure of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, and President Donald Trump deployed armed immigration agents to major US airports as passengers queued for hours in a system strained by staffing shortages.
The crash between an Air Canada Express jet and a fire truck at LaGuardia injured dozens of passengers and canceled hundreds of flights.
The crashed jet was visible at the airport on Monday, its mangled cockpit pointing skyward.
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford said that the two young pilots who died in the incident were just starting their careers. “This is an absolute tragedy,” he said at a news conference.
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents armed with bulletproof vests and handguns were taken off the streets and redeployed at airports in Atlanta, New York and New Jersey, according to witnesses seen by Reuters.
Trump said TSA agents were sent to airports to help reduce security screening lines over the objections of the TSA workers union, which said ICE agents did not undergo the required months of airport security training.
White House immigration czar Tom Homan said agents were deployed to 14 airports in cities including New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.
Authorities said agents would provide crowd control, but Trump also said they could make arrests; That has raised concerns that the chaotic raids on the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere could also come to the nation’s airports.
“They can now arrest illegals as they come into the country. This is very fertile territory,” Trump told reporters. “But that’s not why they’re there. They’re really there to help.”
The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express jet died when the plane collided with a fire truck while taxiing in New York. 9 seriously injured people were taken to hospital.
The CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.
About 572 flights were canceled, accounting for more than 50 percent of LaGuardia’s daily total. Some flights resumed Monday afternoon, but the FAA said the runway where the crash occurred will be closed until Friday, likely causing delays throughout the week.
US aviation has been facing a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers, but US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that was not a problem for LaGuardia. “This is a very well-staffed airport,” he said at a news briefing.
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said earlier in the day a fire truck responded to a separate aircraft reporting an “odor problem.”
According to air traffic control audio, a controller can be heard telling the plane that a fire truck was on the way and allowing a truck to cross the runway. After a few minutes, the controller is heard saying: “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop.”
