The Department of Homeland Security has now been without an appropriations bill for about a month, driving it and thus the government into a partial shutdown, as Schumer and his Democrats refuse to engage in basic, common-sense dealmaking to keep DHS funded because of their hostility to ICE and its mission.
The result of that inability and refusal of Congress to do its duty and get an appropriations bill passed is that the lines at many airports across America have spiralled out of control as unpaid TSA agents rightly refuse to show up for unpaid work. The result is mass havoc, and a great deal of discontent, along with worries about what will happen to America if DHS if left without funding for too long. But Trump appears to have found a way to cut the Gordian Knot: he is deploying ICE to the airports. Tom Homan then took to CNN to reveal how that would work.
This change in the struggle appears to have been precipitated by Elon Musk making an offer on X to pay the salaries of TSA officials during this trying time, so that they will come to work. He said, making the very magnanimous offer, one quite similar to that made by Tim Mellon to pay the troops during the prior shutdown, “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country.”
Trump responded by deploying ICE. After threatening a couple times to do so, and totally unleash the agents on illegal aliens in the airports, the president announced on Truth Social that ICE will be deployed to the airports starting on Monday, March 23. He said, “The Democrats want to give our Country away to the illegals who they allowed to pour through our now very strong Border. I won’t allow that to happen. The Democrats are grossly incompetent! ICE is ready to go on Monday. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
He also said, commenting on how they will crack down on illegal immigration, “On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all. But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!!! President DJT”
Tom Homan then appeared on CNN to reveal what is going on, and how ICE, which was massively expanded by the Big Beautiful Bill, will handle its new duties. Such is what he said when appearing on CNN and speaking with Dana Bash about the matter, saying that a master plan has been put together and the agents are getting ready for deployment.
Continuing, he said, when Bash asked if they were capable of doing the job, “ICE agents receive a high level of training, and you know, the ICE agents are [already stationed at many] airports across the country already. ” He continued by noting what they would be doing, at least initially, saying that there are currently “TSA agents covering exits” and that “certainly a highly trained ice law enforcement officer can cover an exit, makes people people don’t go through those exits into an airport, through the exits.”
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So, he said, ICE will be taking over roles like that, doing so in order to relieve TSA officers who can then “go to screening and to reduce those lines.” He added, “I don’t see an ice agent looking at an X-ray machine, because not trained in that. There are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs help move those lines.”
He later added, “I’m not expert at TSA, so that’s why I’m talking to the TSA administrator and the ICE Director find out where we can fit in. We’ll get we have a plan by the end of today, where we’re sending what airports were starting with, and where we’re sending them, but that’s a discussion we’re having right now. I ended discussions to do the show, and I’ll be back having those discussions when I finish. So it’s a work in progress, but we will be at the airports tomorrow.”
Watch him here:
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