The president deployed ICE agents to major U.S. airports to combat TSA staffing shortages amid the partial government shutdown
Credit: SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump said the public “is loving” his decision to deploy federal immigration agents to airports in a social media post that also praised the agents’ physiques
- ICE officers were deployed to major U.S. airports this week to combat severe staffing shortages tied to the partial government shutdown
- “They are Great American Patriots, they just happen to have much larger, and harder, muscles than most — which is what they’re supposed to have,” the president wrote of ICE agents on Truth Social
President Donald Trump claimed the public "is loving" his decision to deploy federal immigration agents to airports in a social media post that also praised ICE officers' physiques.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, March 25, the president applauded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for deploying to major airports nationwide amid staffing shortages tied to the partial government shutdown.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), lapsed in February, forcing hundreds of thousands of government employees to work without pay. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have struggled to reach an agreement to end the shutdown, with Democrats and Republicans sharply divided on how to proceed.
Nearly 500 TSA agents have quit since the start of the shutdown on Feb. 14, acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told a House panel on Wednesday. The departures have created chaos at major air travel hubs, she said, with some airports experiencing security wait times exceeding four hours — the longest in the agency’s 24-year history.
On Thursday, March 26, Trump said he would sign an emergency order to pay TSA agents, circumventing Congress.
The president deployed ICE agents to assist with airport security lines beginning on Monday, March 23. “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” he wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post announcing the change.
Roughly a week into their deployment, the specifics of ICE agents’ roles at airports remain unclear. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told CNN on Sunday, March 22, that agents would mainly release TSA officers from "non-significant roles," such as crowd control, and would not screen travelers.
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine,” he said.
Credit: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty
In Wednesday’s Truth Social post, Trump characterized ICE agents as “patriots” who have been “unfairly maligned” by Democrats.
“In addition to what they are supposed to be doing, they are helping people with bags, even picking up and cleaning areas,” Trump said about ICE agents at airports. “They are so proud to be there!”
“The fact is, they shouldn’t have to do this, but they are rehabbing a fake image given to them by Radical Left Democrat politicians,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “The Public is loving ICE, so the Democrats, unwittingly, did us a favor.”
He added, “They are Great American Patriots, they just happen to have much larger, and harder, muscles than most — which is what they’re supposed to have. Thank you to ICE for the GREAT job you are doing. America very much appreciates it!”
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Americans largely disapprove of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations thus far. Sixty-five percent of survey respondents in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll released in February said ICE has “gone too far” in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, up from 54 percent in June.
Sixty-two percent of Americans in the same poll said they believe ICE’s actions are making the country less safe, and 60 percent said they disapprove of the job ICE is doing overall.
In another poll, published on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute, 61 percent of Americans rated Trump’s handling of immigration issues unfavorably.
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