CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In recent weeks, people have gathered outside airports around the country to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. Now, officials at Yeager Airport are making sure they know how to respond.
Yeager Police Chief Joe Crawford told Yeager board members Wednesday they established an emergency response plan in case a violent protest were to occur at the Charleston airport.
“As we’ve seen in Dallas, Charlotte and some of the other places where those have the potential to get out of hand, we just want to make sure that we have the available resources to reach out to other agencies, so if we needed them, they could respond,” Crawford told MetroNews.
No protests have been reported at Yeager, but Crawford said they just want to be prepared.
“Do we have the potential? Probably not because we’re not an international airport, but we could have it,” he said. “We haven’t had any issues. Don’t anticipate any issues.”
The plan establishes communication between all law enforcement and EMS crews in the Kanawha Valley.
Crawford said he has nothing against peaceful protests.
“For the most part, it’s to say ‘hey, as long as you’re peaceful and you’re not interrupting airport operations, then you’re good,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is out with new guidelines this week for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, ahead of the expected release of a new immigration executive order from President Trump.