Tom Homan confirms ICE deployment at airports will begin Monday
White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would be deployed to airports across the country on Monday to help TSA officers, who have been working without pay for more than five weeks during the partial Homeland Security shutdown. 24 hours before the plan went into effect, Tom Homan said he was working on a plan to deploy ICE agents to major airports that have seen the longest wait times.“Securing an exit, how much planning is required to ensure that no one can come through that exit?” Homan said.Homan said there isn’t much need for a plan to cover evacuations because ICE agents are highly trained. “You know, certainly a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit. Making sure people don’t go through those exits, enter an airport through the exits and things like that, relieves the TSA officer from having to go to screening and reduce those lines,” Homan said.President Donald Trump said Saturday he would deploy ICE agents to airports by Monday to help reduce long lines. “ICE will work better than ever!” He wrote in Truth Social post on Saturday.But what will ICE agents do? Homan said they would help move the lines. They will not see the X-ray machine because they are not trained in it. “Wherever we can provide additional security – I haven’t seen an ICE agent looking at theImmigration enforcement by ICE will also continue at the airports. More than 400 TSA agents have walked off the job since the shutdown began after lawmakers in the Senate failed to reach an agreement on funding DHS. As the standoff continued, Elon Musk offered to pay TSA workers’ salaries on Saturday. “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively impacting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country,” Musk posted on Twitter.