Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens manages airport crisis from Japan
A sister-city trip to Japan, planned more than a year ago, has complicated the mayor’s management of long lines and the presence of federal immigration officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Mayor Andre Dickens left on a trip to Fukuoka on Saturday — a reciprocal trip after officials from that city visited Atlanta last year.
Michael Smith, deputy chief communications officer for the mayor, said Dickens is “fully engaged and in constant communication” with the airport, the police department, Delta and the Transportation Security Administration, and is “actively monitoring the situation.”
Dickens told council members in a letter Monday that ICE’s presence at the airport is “unprecedented in the 100-year history” of the travel hub.
In the letter, Dickens assured the city’s elected officials the Atlanta Police Department will continue its regular authority of enforcing state and local laws, responding to emergency calls, investigating incidents and monitoring suspicious activity.
Dickens’ office also deployed to the airport a 12-person team from the Office of Constituent Services to assist travelers, answer questions and help move people through crowded checkpoints.
“We wanted to be present, just to bring some peace to the situation,” said Demetrius McCray, executive deputy for the mayor’s Office of Constituent Services. “We just want to make sure people feel that sense of Atlanta — that the mayor’s office cares,” he said.
McCray said the team is expected to remain at the airport for the next several days as officials continue to monitor conditions.
Council committee passes ICE legislation
Atlanta City Council members advanced two pieces of legislation aimed at limiting and documenting U.S. Immigration and Enforcement operations in the city — on the same day federal agents arrived at the airport.
Federal agents were deployed to the airport Monday amid a partial government shutdown that has reduced TSA staffing and lengthened security wait times.
Ten miles away at City Hall, members of the Public Safety Committee unanimously approved a resolution opposing any ICE detention facilities within city limits and another asking the APD to closely document any interactions between officers and ICE agents.
The Department of Homeland Security has recently purchased two warehouses in metro Atlanta it plans to convert into massive immigration detention facilities.
The votes mark the first time the City Council has taken up ICE-related measures, despite similar efforts by other local governments across metro Atlanta to push back on the agency’s presence.
Council member Kelsea Bond introduced the resolution that would prohibit the federal agency from using city resources — such as tax abatements, incentives or grants — to establish detention centers.
“The expansion of ICE facilities into Atlanta would pose a direct risk to community safety and would represent a dangerous federal overreach,” Bond said.
Council member Antonio Lewis introduced the resolution related to the police department, tasking officers with tracking ICE activity by preserving body-worn camera footage and recording agents’ names and identification numbers.
“We were anticipating ICE coming, because President Trump wanted to come to Atlanta,” Lewis said, “If you look at some of the stuff that he’s been saying out loud.”
Atlanta’s leaders have been walking a thin line between responding to harmful federal policies while trying to avoid becoming a target of President Donald Trump. But Lewis told his colleagues Monday the legislation related to ICE should have been introduced months earlier.
“Two months ago, had we put this in, we would have been more prepared for whenever they got here today — but now they’re here,” he added.
Clock ticks on police department prep for FIFA
Atlanta is 83 days from the kickoff of its first FIFA World Cup soccer game, and the city’s police department is up against a tight timeline to make sure it is fully prepared for the crowds.
Atlanta police Chief Darin Scheirbaum said Monday the department will move to 12-hour shifts during the World Cup, from mid-June to mid-July, and have 250 contracted police officers from across the country coming to help.
“As you know, the department dropped to dangerous staffing levels approximately five years ago and has been working to build back up,” he said.
APD has reached 90% staffing across divisions but is still below its authorized number of sworn officers. Schierbaum told council members he hopes the department can surpass 2,000 sworn officers by 2027.
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About the Author
Riley Bunch is a reporter on the local government team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering Atlanta City Hall. She covers the mayor and Atlanta City Council while also keeping an eye on the city’s diverse neighborhoods.
