WASHINGTON – This weekend, President Trump threatened to send ICE agents to airports during the Department of Homeland Security partial shutdown, escalating his criticism of Congress for denying a blank check to the agency. “Border czar” Tom Homan has confirmed that the administration is planning to deploy these agents to airports across the country, despite their lack of training for airport security and interactions, and their clear track record of abusing their power, including through using excessive force against citizens and immigrants alike.
If this plan proceeds as described by President Trump, it will be the first time a president has sent armed ICE agents to airports to replace trained security agents and instill fear in families and other travelers.
DHS, still funded with the $170 billion it received last summer in extra funding, is partially shut down because Congress is demanding meaningful reforms, including an end to indiscriminate stops and racial profiling by ICE, enforceable standards and accountability for violent misconduct by federal agents, and requirements that agents identify themselves and take off their masks.
The White House and Congressional majority leadership have refused bipartisan calls to fund TSA and other parts of DHS while negotiations continue over reining in immigration agencies. More than 410,000 people joined the American Civil Liberties Union to send messages to their members of Congress urging them to reject any bill that would fuel ICE and Border Patrol’s lawless operations. Public opinion is firmly against capitulating to further funding for the lawless federal immigration agencies without proper reforms.
In response to this news, Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs for immigration at the ACLU, issued the following statement:
“Never in our history has a president deployed armed agents to the airport to inspire fear among families. The American people don’t want to live in White House advisor Stephen Miller’s dystopian police state. ICE and other federal agents have already shown the cost to us all when the president deploys them on his whim to act as a domestic policing force. Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter Jr., Ruben Ray Martinez, and thousands of protestors, journalists, and people across the country have endured the brunt of lawless agents. America’s families travelling to see loved ones should not have to deal with ICE agents who likely have no training or experience with the mission of airport security.
“President Trump and his allies in Congress refused to fund TSA and manufactured a crisis at airports across the country. Now, the president apparently wants to use ICE as his private security force, reminding all of us that ICE is not retreating from lawlessness but assigned at will by the president for political retribution.
“This is the exact opposite of what the American people are clamoring for, which are real, enforceable changes to rein in ICE and Border Patrol’s cruel deportation and detention obsession.”
Those traveling domestically or internationally should know their rights when doing so.
