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The largest federal workers union says ‘untrained, armed’ ICE agents should not replace TSA

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America’s largest federal employee union says ICE agents are unqualified to replace TSA officers at US airports.

“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification,” Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, said on Sunday in a statement posted online.

“You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one,” he added.

The statement came one day after President Donald Trump said he would tap ICE agents to help with airport security as the partial government shutdown drags on.

“Likewise, I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to,”GET READY.” NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan said Sunday that the administration was actively working on a plan to integrate ICE agents into airports.

“We’ll have a plan by the end of today on what airports we’re starting with and where we’re sending them,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The partial government shutdown has left the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, unfunded as Congress debates its immigration enforcement policies.

TSA officers haven’t received a paycheck in five weeks, and more than 400 have quit since mid-February, according to The White House, compounding a staffing shortage. As a result, long wait times and massive lines are clogging airport security checkpoints.

On Sunday, Kelley said that many TSA agents have continued to show up to work despite the lack of pay. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be,” he said.

ICE has been at the center of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Fatal shootings sparked widespread protests against the agency earlier this year and contributed to the removal of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Kelley called on Congress to “stop playing politics and do their jobs.”

During an interview on Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said TSA officers, whose salaries start around $40,000 annually, can’t live on $0 paychecks.

“They’re going to take other jobs to put food on the table and pay the rent,” Duffy said on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “I do think it’s going to get much worse, and as it gets worse, I think that puts pressure on Congress to come to a resolution.”

Disruptions to air travel were what ultimately pushed Congress to end the previous full government shutdown.




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Jake Epstein

Satellite image shows Iran’s largest naval vessel, a tanker-turned-warship, smoking in port

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Newly captured satellite imagery from the ongoing conflict with Iran shows it’s biggest warship — a former oil tanker converted into a floating base — on fire at a military port.

The imagery, captured on Monday by the US commercial imaging firm Planet Labs PBC and obtained by Business Insider, shows a massive plume of smoke rising from what analysts identified as the IRINS Makran in the harbor at Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz and the Makran’s home port.

President Donald Trump vowed on Saturday to “annihilate” Iran’s navy as he announced the start of “major combat operations” against the country.


The Iranian warship Makran burns in port.

A close-up view of the Makran.

Planet Labs PBC’



US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said on Monday that it has destroyed all 11 of Iran’s ships in the Gulf of Oman. It was not immediately clear if that tally includes the Makran.

Commercial satellite imagery captured by US spatial intelligence firm Vantor on Sunday showed destroyed and sinking vessels, as well as damaged buildings at the Iranian naval base in Konarak.

Iran converted the Makran, an oil tanker, into a forward base ship in 2020 and commissioned the vessel into the navy the following year. Technically not a combat ship, it is still Iran’s largest warship and can carry roughly a dozen helicopters.

The deck can accommodate missile and rocket artillery launchers, as well as vertical takeoff and landing drones. The vessel has completed several long-distance voyages, including one that circled the globe.

The Makran is one of several Iranian warships that were once civilian vessels. In recent years, Tehran has converted several container ships into militarized drone carriers.


The Iranian warship Makran sails in the ocean.

The Makran is a tanker converted into a forward base ship.

Iranian Army via AP



CENTCOM said it struck one of these vessels, the Shahid Bagheri, in the opening hours of the conflict over the weekend. The carrier’s status is unknown.

The US strikes initially focused on Iran’s naval forces, command and control facilities, intelligence infrastructure, and ballistic missile sites, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday.

US and Israeli aircraft have also targeted Iranian air defenses, paving the way for both militaries to secure air superiority over large parts of the country.

Additional satellite imagery shows widespread damage across Iran, including at drone and air bases, official compounds, and missile bases. Other military infrastructure, such as radar systems, was also struck.

Iran has retaliated by launching waves of missiles and drones at bases hosting US forces across the Middle East, Israel, and most other countries in the region, including the Gulf states.

The US and its allies have said that they have intercepted hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones. Some have slipped past air defenses, though, killing more than a dozen people across the region, including six American service members.




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Israel says 200 fighters struck Iran in the largest air operation in its history

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Roughly 200 fighter jets participated in Israel’s widespread airstrikes against Iran on Saturday, the Israeli military said, calling the attack the largest air operation in its history.

The Israeli fighter jets dropped hundreds of bombs on 500 targets in western and central Iran, including air defense systems and missile launchers, the military said in a statement. The government earlier announced it had carried out a “preemptive” strike.

Attacks on the defensive systems — a tactic known as suppression of enemy air defenses, or SEAD — allowed Israel to expand its aerial superiority over Iranian territory, the military added.

“This is the largest military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force,” it said, adding that the operation was based on extensive planning and “high-quality intelligence.”

The strikes involved Israeli F-35 stealth fighters and F-15 jets. The full extent of the aircraft that participated is unclear.

Israeli warplanes attacked Iran alongside the US military. President Donald Trump described the American involvement as the start of “major combat operations” after nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington broke down.

A US official told Business Insider that American air, land, and naval forces were involved in the strikes against Iran and launched drones, rocket artillery, and cruise missiles, among other weapons.


An Israeli F-15C Buzz launches for a sortie in support of exercise Juniper Falcon, May 7, at Uvda Air Base, Israel.

Israeli F-15 fighter jets were involved in the strikes.

US Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew



US fighter aircraft also participated in the attacks, which targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, air defenses, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields, the American military said.

Hundreds of Iranians have been killed and wounded in strikes so far, according to multiple reports.

Iran retaliated by launching waves of missiles against Israel and US bases across the Middle East, sending the region into an air defense frenzy.

US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said its forces “successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”

Several Middle Eastern countries confirmed shooting down Iranian missiles as well, though some projectiles managed to slip past air defenses. CENTCOM said there are no reports of US casualties, nor has there been significant damage to American facilities.

Saturday’s strikes mark the second time in less than a year that the US has attacked Iran. American forces bombed the country’s nuclear facilities in June 2025 as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.

They also follow a steady buildup of US military forces in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, including more than a dozen warships and hundreds of aircraft.




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Ashley Stewart Business Insider

Amazon execs say layoffs are part of turning the company into the ‘world’s largest startup’

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Internal memos from Amazon executives explained the company’s decision to lay off 16,000 corporate workers as necessary to become the “world’s largest startup,” according to the messages viewed by Business Insider.

“Our ambition is to be the world’s largest startup,” Amazon executives wrote in two such memos viewed by Business Insider. “That means doubling down on a culture of ownership, speed, and experimentation — which requires us to continue evolving how we’re structured.”

The “world’s largest startup” has become a common refrain under Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who repeatedly referenced the company’s ability to operate like a startup in his latest shareholder letter.

The memos viewed by Business Insider, written by Amazon Web Services vice president Prasad Kalyanaraman and senior vice president Colleen Aubrey, include other similarities, providing insight into how Amazon likely directed its top executives to communicate about the layoffs:

  • Notifications within the teams in the US and Canada have been completed.
  • Identical language stating, “Please take care of yourselves and each other,” and that “the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available 24/7 for free and confidential support.”
  • Acknowledging that changes are difficult and ending with a forward-looking statement about what remaining teams can accomplish.

Greg Pearson, another AWS VP, also addressed layoffs in a memo and urged staff to “use technology to simplify work,” Business Insider previously reported. Amazon also shared more information for laid-off employees in an FAQ and emails from Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti.

Internal Slack messages viewed by Business Insider suggest affected teams include those within the company’s AWS cloud unit, such as the AI cloud service Bedrock, the cloud data warehouse service Redshift, and the ProServe consulting team, as well as retail business teams such as the Prime subscription service and the last-mile Delivery Experience team.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the memos below:

Prasad Kalyanaraman, VP of AWS Infrastructure:

Team,
I want to provide an update on the organizational changes that Beth Galetti shared in her A to Z post earlier today. As Beth noted, these decisions are part of our ongoing effort to position the organization for the future while staying nimble and focused on delivering for our customers. Our ambition is to be the world’s largest startup. That means doubling down on a culture of ownership, speed, and experimentation—which requires us to continue evolving our structure.
The notifications to impacted colleagues in our organization who are based in the U.S. and Canada, have now been completed. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representatives and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees.
First and foremost, I want to thank the impacted colleagues who have worked tirelessly for our customers. I want to acknowledge that changes like this can be hard on our entire team. These decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organization for future success. Changes like these are difficult, especially when they affect colleagues we value. These decisions don’t diminish what we’ve built together; rather, they’re about positioning us to sustain and extend that impact as we continue to build the foundation for the future.
I also want to recognize what our team has accomplished this past year as we’ve made tremendous progress on scaling to meet unprecedented customer demand. These results reflect the talent, dedication, and collaboration across the breadth of our very diverse organization that must work together seamlessly — and those are qualities that will remain our foundation as we move forward.
Please take care of yourselves and each other. Remember that the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available 24/7 for free and confidential support.
Thank you for your resilience and continued focus on delivering for our customers. I’m confident in our team’s ability to navigate this transition and emerge stronger.
I’m looking forward to what we’ll accomplish together in the months ahead.
Prasad

Colleen Aubrey, SVP of Applied AI Solutions:

Hi,
I wanted to follow up on Beth Galetti’s post about organizational changes to A to Z earlier today. As Beth noted, this is a continuation of the work we’ve been doing for more than a year to strengthen the company by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy, so that we can move faster for customers. Our ambition is to be the world’s largest startup. That means doubling down on a culture of ownership, speed, and experimentation—which requires us to continue evolving how we’re structured.
Our organization plays a critical role in putting AI to work for our customers, transforming how companies deliver value to their customers, and these changes will help us sharpen our focus. I’ve seen how this team innovates and collaborates to solve real-world business challenges through applied Al. These strengths will be essential as we move forward with focus and clarity.
The notifications to impacted colleagues in our organization who are based in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica have now been completed. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees. Changes like this are hard on everyone. These decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organization and AWS for future success. Please take care of yourselves and each other. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available 24/7 for free and confidential support.
Thank you for your continued focus on delivering for our customers. I’m confident in our team’s ability to navigate this transition and emerge stronger, and I am positive that we’ll accomplish great things together in the months ahead.
Colleen

Have a tip? Contact Ashley Stewart via email at astewart@businessinsider.com or Signal at +1-425-344-8242. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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This one activity remained the largest driver of GDP growth in 2025 — not AI, according to a new report

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Worried about the AI bubble? A new report suggests AI was not the main leg propping up the economy in 2025.

Macro Research Board Partners, an economic research platform, published a report in January that contradicted the popular belief that AI is the main driver of GDP and that the “narrowly concentrated” and “extremely vulnerable” growth would tank the entire economy once it falters.

“In short, without an AI boom, there would have certainly been less GDP growth last year, but there would also be fewer imports, so that overall real growth would still have been decent,” wrote economic strategist Prajakta Bhide, who authored the report.

Bhide told Business Insider that personal consumption, meaning the spending of everyday people, was still the main pillar of GDP growth in 2025, and that despite the amount of investment in AI infrastructure, a lot of high-tech equipment is imported, and imports do not contribute to GDP.

The main categories that count toward GDP are personal consumption, private domestic investment, government spending, and net exports.

“Consumers continue to be the backbone of the economy,” Bhide told Business Insider. “Aggregate income growth is lower than it used to be, and so is job growth, which affected consumer sentiments. But there is a divide between what consumers say they feel and what they say that they’re going to do versus what they actually go and do.”

AI growth was an important secondary driver of GDP growth, the report found, but that is mostly from software investment, while the contribution of data centers is “negligible.”

“Although a negative shock to the optimism around AI implies a risk to GDP growth,” Bhide wrote in the report, “the more realistic (and smaller) estimate of AI’s growth impact after adjusting for imports dispels the popular notion that the US economy would falter without it.”

Beyond the GDP, concerns about the AI bubble are also tied to the stock market and people’s retirement funds. America’s eight most valuable public companies, including Nvidia, Alphabet, and Apple, are all betting heavily on AI and are worth $22 trillion altogether.

Business Insider has previously reported that historically, a pullback in consumer spending has rarely been the trigger for an economic downturn. Instead, spending typically weakens only after job losses mount and when a recession is already well underway.




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America’s largest labor movement calls for ICE to leave Minnesota before ‘anyone else is hurt or killed’

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America’s largest network of labor unions has condemned ICE after a federal agent on Saturday shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident.

The AFL-CIO, which represents nearly 15 million workers, called Pretti’s death “senseless.”

“As tens of thousands of Minnesotans made clear peacefully and powerfully yesterday, the Trump administration’s horrific operation — and their actions aimed at stoking violence and chaos — must end,” the labor group said in a statement.

“America’s unions join the call for ICE to immediately leave Minnesota before anyone else is hurt or killed. We demand local authorities conduct a full, transparent investigation that will lead to accountability for this tragic and violent act, and for Congress to use its power to hold ICE accountable.”


Alex Pretti of Minneapolis

Residents mourned Alex Pretti, who was killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Scott Olson/Getty Images



A federal agent fatally shot Pretti in Minneapolis, where he worked as an ICU nurse at a US Department of Veterans Affairs hospital. Minneapolis police confirmed on Saturday that Pretti is a US citizen. He had been filming the agents when the confrontation began.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Border Patrol and ICE, said Pretti was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and “approached” agents at the scene. The department said officers tried to disarm Pretti, but he resisted. In multiple videos of the incident, however, Pretti is never seen threatening agents and is disarmed and subdued before he is shot. Minneapolis police said Pretti had a permit to carry the weapon.

The DHS deployed ICE and other federal agents to Minnesota as part of an immigration enforcement sweep called Operation Metro Surge, which began in December. The department says it has deployed around 2,000 federal agents across the state to detain and deport illegal immigrants. Trump has made securing the border and deporting those in the US who lack proper paperwork a central part of his administration’s agenda.

Local residents and business owners, however, have criticized the tactics federal agents are using to find and detain those people, resulting in protests across the state. Tensions further escalated after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, on January 7.

The CEOs of Minnesota’s largest businesses, including Target, Cargill, Allianz, and UnitedHealth, called for “immediate de-escalation” in a joint statement on Sunday.


Protests against ICE in Minnesota

A federal agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7.

ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP



On Saturday, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham shared a statement calling for a “full and transparent investigation” into the recent shootings.

“‘Operation Metro Surge’ is not and has never been about enforcing immigration law. This is about a President who is angry with the people of Minnesota for disagreeing with his policies and is weaponizing the federal government against us in retribution,” Burnham said.

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing Pretti and other federal workers in the US, also criticized the Trump administration in a statement on Saturday. As an employee of the VA hospital, Pretti was a member of AFGE Local 3669.

“While details of the incident are still emerging, one fact is already clear: this tragedy did not happen in a vacuum. It is the direct result of an administration that has chosen reckless policy, inflammatory rhetoric, and manufactured crisis over responsible leadership and de-escalation,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in the statement.

Kelley said the presence of federal agents has stoked fear and division in the community.

“I urge everyone to remain disciplined and measured in public, even as we are rightly angry. Still, we must do what we can to maintain peace and calm,” Kelley said. “But do not mistake restraint for acceptance. Accountability will come, and AFGE will not be silent about the policies and decisions that led us here.”




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America’s largest labor movement joins the fight against ICE

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The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest network of labor unions representing some 15 million workers, says ICE is a threat to workers.

“The Trump administration’s militarized immigration enforcement is putting innocent working people in danger,” the AFL-CIO said in a post on X on Saturday. “America’s unions have your backs.”

A group of local unions in Minnesota, meanwhile, has endorsed a planned statewide economic blackout in response to ICE actions in the state.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, first announced its endorsement alongside other regional bodies on Friday.

“The Minnesota labor movement is united against the violent ICE occupation of our beloved cities that has directly impacted union members, our workplaces and our families,” the group said in a press release.

Dozens of community, faith, and union groups are organizing the Day of Truth and Freedom, a call to action asking Minnesotans to avoid work, school, and shopping on January 23 to pause the economy. There will also be a rally and march in downtown Minneapolis at 2 p.m. local time.

“We will gather with family, neighbors, and community to show Minnesota’s moral heart and economic power,” organizers said in a Facebook post.

Organizers listed several demands, including that ICE leave Minnesota and that federal funding for ICE be scrapped in the upcoming congressional budget.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation told Business Insider that ICE’s presence is disrupting residents’ daily lives.

“Working people from across sectors — hospitality, healthcare, education, custodial, construction, public works — are being targeted,” the group said in a statement.

Thousands of ICE officers have descended on Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, launched on December 1. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release earlier this month that the operation was targeting criminal activity among immigrants in the state.

“Under President Trump, we will expose and deliver accountability for the rampant fraud and criminality happening in Minnesota. You won’t steal from Americans or break our laws and get away with it,” she said.

The Trump administration has said it is specifically targeting cities like Minneapolis that have passed so-called “sanctuary” laws that prevent city resources and police from supporting federal immigration agents.

Many residents, meanwhile, have criticized the tactics that federal agents are using to locate and detain individuals.

Tensions in the state skyrocketed after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen from Minneapolis, on January 7, leading to a wave of protests and outcry.

Days later, Minnesota’s attorney general — on behalf of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the state — filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, seeking to end the operation.

“As a result of this surge, municipalities have been forced to divert local law enforcement resources away from their normal public safety duties, emergency responder resources have been strained, schools have been forced into lockdowns and closures, businesses have been forced to close, and the rights of Minnesotans have been violated time and time again,” a press release from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said.

Homeland Security said officers have arrested over 2,500 individuals during Operation Metro Surge so far.




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SHRM, the world’s largest HR group, has been hit with an $11.5 million verdict in a racial discrimination lawsuit

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A jury on Friday issued an $11.5 million verdict against the world’s largest HR organization over allegations it had racially discriminated and retaliated against a former employee.

The Society for Human Resource Management, known as SHRM, was found liable for racial discrimination and retaliation and hit with a ruling of $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million for punitive damages, according to Ariel DeFazio, a lawyer for the plaintiff.

SHRM said it plans to appeal the decision. “Today’s decision does not reflect the facts, the law, or the truth of how SHRM operates,” the trade group said in a statement. “We have acted with integrity, transparency, and in full alignment with our values and obligations.”

SHRM was sued in 2022 by Rehab Mohamed, who worked at the trade group as an instructional designer from 2016 to 2020. The case was tried over the course of five days in a Colorado federal court.

“The optics are bad because they’ve held themselves out as an authority on best practices,” said Alice K. Jump, an employment attorney and partner at law firm Reavis Page Jump.

Mohamed said in her suit that she was racially discriminated against by a white supervisor and faced retaliation for complaining to management. She said she raised concerns about racial discrimination and retaliation with leadership, including SHRM’s CEO, Johnny C. Taylor Jr., and its head of human resources, throughout the summer of 2020.

While testifying on December 4, Taylor said he wasn’t involved in Mohamed’s termination. A former SHRM employee, Mike Jackson, who said he was responsible for investigating the matter, told the court that Mohamed’s was the only discrimination claim he had ever investigated.

In response to questions from Hunter Swain, another of Mohamed’s lawyers, Jackson said that he left SHRM in 2021 and his title was manager of employee experience. He said he became a certified HR professional while employed there and that he had undergone one training session on HR investigations just a few months before the discriminatory events that Mohamed cited in her lawsuit took place.

When asked by Swain what he learned from the training, Jackson said he couldn’t remember any specifics.

SHRM has consistently denied Mohamed’s claims. In September, SHRM asked the court to bar Mohamed from introducing evidence or argument that the organization is a specialist in HR best practices.

The following month, US District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher denied SHRM’s request, saying its “asserted expertise in human resources is integral to the circumstances of this case and cannot reasonably be excluded.”

In his testimony, Taylor said SHRM’s work includes advising HR professionals about best practices, including those pertaining to investigating internal complaints of discrimination and retaliation. He said SHRM has a set of curricula around best practices for investigating employment complaints.

The verdict was not surprising given that SHRM promotes itself as an expert in HR, Boston employment lawyer Evan Fray-Witzer told Business Insider. “You’re going to be held to a higher standard,” he said.

In recent years, SHRM has been embroiled in various controversies, as Business Insider recently reported. These include a new attendance policy that penalizes workers who arrive even a minute after 9 a.m.; a memo about a “conservative” dress code that bans sequins; and a companywide meeting in which Taylor said some staffers were “entitled,” “complacent,” and “sloppy.”

During pre-trial discovery for Mohamed’s case, SHRM revealed the existence of two other discrimination complaints from employees. One case, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2018, was settled. The other, filed with a California regulator in 2021, is pending. SHRM also denied wrongdoing in those cases.

“We are very happy that the jury spent a week listening very closely to the evidence and that they decided, as a result, to hold SHRM accountable,” Mohamed’s lawyer, DeFazio, told Business Insider. She said the verdict would “send a message to workplaces in the entire country.”




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