Tom Homan Says ICE May Remain At Airports Amid Funding Agreements For TSA. Should We Be Concerned?

Since the Trump administration began deploying ICE agents to U.S. airports to assist TSA, which is short-staffed because its agents are not getting paid, many people have been nervous about the deployment being a “test run” for normalizing ICE presence in places where they don’t belong, such as polling locations. People believe this because prominent Trump allies like Steve Bannon have advocated for such mobilization of federal immigration officers, and because President Donald Trump makes a habit of weaponizing the agency, just as he did with the National Guard before multiple federal judges ruled it unconstitutional.

So, when Trump’s so-called “border czar,” ICE director Tom Homan, told reporters that ICE may remain at airports even after Congress funds TSA and gets its agents back to work, he was likely not easing the concerns of people who already believe their deployment was yet another act of government overreach by an administration that has made such overreach a routine practice.

“We’re going to continue an ICE presence there, and until the airports feel like they’re in 100%, you know, in a posture where they can do normal operations,” Homan said in an interview on CBS News. “So if less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there.”

Now, to be clear, Homan does seem to be saying that if ICE agents remain at airports, it will only be until those airports have enough time to get back to business as usual, which will depend on how many TSA agents return to work now that, according to NBC news, Trump has directed the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA workers as the partial shutdown continues.

“It depends how many TSA agents come back to work, how many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan of coming back to work. I’m working very closely with TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what,” Homan said.

Still, Homan — who previously confirmed that ICE would be conducting immigration arrests at airports, along with assisting TSA workers in doing work that  only TSA workers are trained to do — was doing a little too much singing of the agency’s praises to comfort people who will be less concerned when they can take a flight without running into immigration cops at all.

“God bless the men and women of ICE,” Homan said, claiming they have been “plugging those holes” that were making airports a nightmare for travelers.

Yeah, calm down — people still want them gone.

Then there’s the fact that we still don’t know when the partial government shutdown will end permanently, ensuring that TSA funding won’t be jeopardized again.

From NBC:

On Friday, House Republicans passed a short-term DHS funding bill that does not have enough support in the Senate to become law. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected a Senate-passed bill that would have funded all of DHS except for immigration enforcement and deportation operations.

The DHS shutdown became the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history on Sunday, and there is no clear path forward for funding the department. The House and Senate are scheduled to be on recess for the next two weeks.

A source familiar with the ongoing negotiations over DHS funding told NBC News that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has sent guidance to his members that he is continuing to talk with Senate Democrats to see if there is some form of legislation they would agree to that would end the standoff.

DHS reported that approximately 500 TSA workers have quit since the start of the shutdown, and, last week, a top TSA official testified before Congress that it takes approximately four to six months to train new agents, which brings into question Homan’s claim that ICE has been so effective at doing TSA work with no training thus far.

So, we have no idea when the second record-breaking government shutdown under the second Trump administration will end, nor do we know when ICE’s presence at airports will end.

By the way, there’s also a war of choice in Iran that has no end in sight.

Are we “winning” yet — at literally anything?

SEE ALSO:

Trump Sends ICE To US Airports To Help TSA And Target Immigrants, Of Course

TSA Administrator Warns Airports Could Close Due To Call Outs

TSA Lines Expected To Increase As More Agents Quit During Shutdown