ICE Agents Deployed to Airports as Trump Refuses to Fund TSA

No one is happy about Donald Trump’s decision to use Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to help run airport security. ICE agents were deployed Monday to at least 13 airports across the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and all three New York City airports. Rather than simply agree to pay Transportation Security Administration workers, who are facing their second missed paycheck amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, Trump announced Saturday that he would dispatch federal immigration agents to manage growing lines at airports across the country. But it seems that even Trump knows that ICE agents’ presence at U.S. airports is a bad look: He asked federal officers on Monday not to wear face masks while “helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports.” ICE officers’ masks have been a sticking point in negotiations with Democrats. ICE officials have been scrambling to meet the president’s demands. White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that ICE agents would assist with security, crowd control, and check IDs, but they would not operate X-ray machines. When asked how planning was going, Homan replied, “How much of a plan does it mean to guard an exit to make sure no one comes through that exit?”While it typically takes four to six months to train a TSA worker, there are no legal training requirements for checkpoint screeners. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” former TSA administrator John Pistole told Axios. “If I’m getting on a flight tomorrow, I want to know that the people doing the screening are qualified, that it’s not their first day on the job.”But ICE agents charged with crowd control aren’t off the clock from immigration enforcement. Speaking to CNN, Homan wouldn’t rule out making arrests. “We do immigration enforcement at airports all the time. So it’s not going to change,” he said. In a post on Truth Social Saturday, Trump had specifically directed agents to arrest undocumented immigrants with a “heavy emphasis on those from Somalia.”Republicans privately aren’t thrilled about ICE agents patrolling airport lines, Punchbowl News reported. “It’s not ICE’s mission to be there,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters on Sunday, warning the agency’s presence could bring “additional tension” to an already strained environment. “It’s a mess,” another Republican senator told Punchbowl News. “No one is quite sure what’s going on.”Florida Senator Rick Scott lamented that Trump didn’t have a choice, but said he was still concerned about ICE’s participation. “It’s frustrating, because it won’t be as good as somebody that’s trained as a TSA agent. So our airports are not going to be as safe,” Scott said.Democrats publicly condemned the decision to dispatch federal immigration agents to help TSA. “This is really disturbing,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “ICE agents who are untrained and have caused problems everywhere they’ve gone, lurking at our airports. That’s asking for trouble, and it will certainly make the chaos at the airports even worse.”Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal labeled the decision “one of the biggest potential self-inflicted wounds for this administration.” Punchbowl News reported, however, that some Democrats are privately thrilled that Trump’s disastrous decision could sow more dissent, as the partial government shutdown drags into its sixth week.