Democrats are privately cheering President Donald Trump’s ICE stunt, which they think proves he is panicking over shutdown-fueled TSA chaos.
Trump, 79, has attempted to use sending ICE agents to airports as leverage to secure a funding agreement to open up the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
But political journalist Rachael Bade reported that it has had the opposite effect, with Democratic lawmakers and senior aides privately delighted, reading the airport move as a sign the White House is feeling the pressure from mounting spring-break disruption.
One senior Democratic official told Bade: “Great—do it!”
On Monday, Trump himself seemed to reinforce the impression he was concerned about the optics of ICE agents processing air travellers.
The president said in a Truth Social post that while he supported ICE agents wearing masks during raids, he had demanded “NO MASKS” when they were sent to deal with the airport “MESS.”
Multiple media outlets reported Atlanta was among the airports getting federal backup. The city’s mayor, Andre Dickens, said the agents would report to TSA for crowd control and line management, while Homan said ICE could also help monitor exit lanes and check IDs.
By Monday morning, the threat was no longer theoretical. The New York Post reported that ICE agents were arriving at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as long lines formed again.
That, Bade says, hands Democrats exactly the imagery they wanted.
Unpaid TSA officers have reportedly been sleeping in their cars and even selling blood for gas money as the shutdown dragged on.
ICE officials were apparently caught flat-footed after Trump’s weekend order, and a former senior ICE official told CBS that Customs and Border Protection would have made more sense as airport backup.
The administration’s own messaging has not helped. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, 54, said ICE agents could help with pat-downs and X-ray machines. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, 64, who has been put in charge of the ICE airport rollout, undermined Duffy on CNN, saying the agents are not trained to read X-rays.
AP still described Monday’s rollout as “a work in progress.”
The shutdown discussion got more complicated on Monday. Reuters reported that Trump told Republicans not to make any DHS deal until Democrats also back the SAVE America Act, his proof-of-citizenship voting bill, which lacks the 60 Senate votes it needs.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and the White House for comment.
