As the latest government shutdown continues, ICE agents have now been ordered to assist TSA at numerous US airports.
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In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said he was ordering ICE agents to help with airport security. He also reaffirmed the plan earlier this week. He said the orders would be given unless the Democrats agreed to fund the US Department of Homeland Security.
After the Senate failed to pass a resolution over the weekend, Trump wrote, “ICE is ready to go on Monday.”
“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday,” the president declared. “And have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’ NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”
Continuously blaming Democrats, Trump stated, “If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before.”
However, Trump did not reveal how ICE would assist in airport security. White House border czar Tom Homan clarified what ICE agents would be doing.
“We’re going to be a force multiplier,” he explained. “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we’re not trained in that.”
Republican Congresswoman Lisa Murkowski Speaks Out Against ICE Agents at Airports
Just after President Trump stated that ICE agents would help assist TSA at airports, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said it was a “bad idea.”
“What we need to do is, we need to get the DHS issues resolved, we need to get the TSA agents paid,” she said, per The Associated Press. “Do you really want to have even additional tensions on top of what we are already facing?”
Along with Senator Murkowski, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, slammed Trump’s ICE plan.
“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Kelley said in a statement. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy further discussed the common concern among travelers.
“Do I have to come an hour and a half early? Do I have to come four hours early? They don’t know until the day of or the afternoon of their flight,” he noted. “So if we can alleviate that, again, the president wants to take away that leverage point for Democrats and make travel easier for the American people.”