‘What are their goals?’: Fmr. TSA administrator weighs in on ICE deployment to busy airports
President Donald Trump said Monday that federal immigration officers will conduct arrests of undocumented immigrants as he sends them to help struggling Transportation Security Administration officers at US airports.
“Yeah, yeah,” Trump told reporters. “That’s why the Democrats are going crazy.”
Appearing to backtrack a little bit, Trump added: “They love it, because they’re able to arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory, but that’s not why they’re there; they’re really there to help.”
Trump took credit for the idea of putting ICE agents at US airports when asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. He said he called border czar Tom Homan about it, who was on board.
Trump also threatened to bring in the National Guard at airports if the situation doesn’t improve.
“I want to thank ICE, because they stepped in so so strongly. They’ll do great. And if that’s not enough, I’ll bring in the National Guard,” Trump said.
Tom Homan told Dana Bash on Sunday that ICE agents will be at airports to alleviate some of the burden on TSA workers, specifically with security. ICE has previously conducted immigration arrests at airports.
“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. Not trained in that? We won’t do that,” he said, noting how ICE agents “are assigned at many airports across the country already.”
