Border Czar Tom Homan pulled his cop immunity card when asked about the logistics of the president’s sudden TSA payout vow.
“If the administration had the power to move funds around to pay TSA agents this whole time, why did it take 41 days to do it? And how long will this money last?” host Jake Tapper asked his guest on State of the Union Sunday.
Homan, 64, did his first sidestep of the interview by answering the question as he outlined: “Well, look, paying TSA agents doesn’t pay the rest of the Department of Homeland Security.”
The former Border Patrol agent named the Coast Guard, CISA, and Secret Service as key bodies currently working without paychecks, before coughing and saying of ICE officers: “They’ll be getting paid.”
Homan lamented the lack of support for “the people that keep the lights on and, you know, and do all the things that they have to do,” while celebrating his paid agents: “So ICE agents go out there and do their job.”
Succinctly, he mused, “So, you know, they just need to fund the Department of Homeland Security. After all, we‘re talking about the Department of Homeland Security.”
Homan then—without directly mentioning Trump’s decision to enter into an unauthorized war against Iran—spoke of how in a time of “heightened threat,” there should be no debate over DHS funding.
Tapper questioned again: “Right. But if, if President Trump had the power to pay TSA agents this whole time, why only start doing it now?”
For his second parry, Homan opted for ignorance. “Look, I don‘t understand. Look, I’m a cop. I don’t understand the whole, you know, appropriations language—appropriations law,” he said.
The immigration lead riddled, “I just, you know, I‘m just glad that President Trump is able to pay the TSA agents. At least that’s a start. But again, there‘s a lot more many more; thousands more, tens of thousands of more DHS employees who are not being paid that need to be paid.”
Homan was unable to answer why or how TSA agents may suddenly be paid for their work during the travel crisis, which saw paid ICE agents seemingly enjoying departure lounge food courts and group gossip sessions.
The past week has seen airport wait times reach an all-time high for the Transportation Security Administration, with federal regulations barring TSA agents from accepting cash in hand as a form of gratitude from billionaire filmmaker Tyler Perry.
Members of the GOP have strayed from Trump’s party line for DHS funding, which hinges on sweeping voting restrictions. Democrats have reached a partial funding agreement—barring ICE and Border Patrol—with Majority Leader John Thune, with the Republican describing Trump’s vision as “not realistic.”
