An ICE officer deployed to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to help TSA move the lines along helped save a 1-year-old boy who had stopped breathing on Thursday.
The boy’s father was waiting in a precheck line when the child went limp. The father called for help, and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer sprinted over, Homeland Security said.
The officer performed the Heimlich maneuver, and the tot began to breathe again. Medical personnel then arrived and checked out the child, who had recovered enough to get on the plane.
“If our agent had not been there and stepped up, this would have been a tragic outcome,” new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. “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.”
President Trump has sent ICE officers into airports to help the Transportation Security Administration, which is facing resignations and sick call-outs as TSA agents are being forced to work without pay during the DHS shutdown.
Using ICE has infuriated immigrant rights groups, who say Mr. Trump is trying to scare migrants.
DHS said the 1-year-old is the second child saved by ICE officers in recent weeks.
Last month, ICE agents were off duty and eating at a restaurant in Minnesota when a woman rushed up seeking help for a 4-year-old boy who’d fallen into a hotel swimming pool.
DHS said agents performed CPR for several minutes before emergency medical services responded to whisk the child away for help. The toddler regained consciousness.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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