An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent saved a baby’s life at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday.
The agent was one of many who had been deployed to the airport to assist the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) during the partial government shutdown, which was preventing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from being properly funded. TSA is part of DHS.
According to DHS, the one-year-old boy stopped breathing in his father’s arms. His father, in the TSA PreCheck line, panicked trying to find help for his baby, whose arms had gone limp. The agent heard the panic, rushed to the area, and performed the Heimlich maneuver on the baby, according to DHS. The baby began to breathe again and was even cleared to fly.
DHS said in a statement:
The agent working at his post, heard the screams from the father and other passengers and sprinted to the scene. The father handed the child to the officer, who then assessed the unresponsive child and began performing the Heimlich maneuver. After a few seconds, the child started breathing again.
The baby had been unresponsive for about two minutes before the ICE officer arrived to help.
“This officer’s extraordinary bravery embodies the selfless service of DHS law enforcement,” DHS added.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also praised the actions of the ICE agent.
“The ICE agent sprang into action and saved this one-year-old child’s life. If our agent had not been there and stepped up, this would have been a tragic outcome,” Mullin said.
He added, “Despite the endless smears and lies told about them by sanctuary politicians and the media, our ICE officers show up every day to protect the Homeland and their fellow Americans.”
The life-saving action of the ICE agent comes as Democrats continue to criticize their presence at airports across the country as they assist TSA, the latter of which has experienced thousands of call-outs during the partial shutdown. However, wait times have decreased as agents have helped with crowd control and ID checks. They have even been spotted passing out bottles of water to weary travelers.
But some maintain that ICE agents were deployed for “no reason.”
“There’s absolutely no reason for him to do that,” Democrat Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) said of Trump sending ICE agents to help TSA.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) described it as a “horrible, horrible idea that’s just going to cause more problems,” and asserted that ICE agents are not properly trained and therefore not prepared to help people feel calm.
“So, if you think about it, I don’t know how they would be helpful in making people feel calm,” she added. “If I were an international traveler, I wouldn’t want to come to the United States to deal with a rogue agency that is under-trained.”
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