MAGA architect Steve Bannon argued that airports are the perfect training ground for the midterms on Monday after President Donald Trump sent ICE agents to U.S. airports.
The president announced on Sunday that he would send ICE agents into airports to help, as travelers have been facing crippling delays due to the partial government shutdown.
But Bannon suggested there could be ulterior motives for sending in ICE.
“We can use what’s happening with these ICE helping out, helping out at the airports, we can use this as a test run, as a test case to perfect, really perfect, ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections?? Bannon asked his guest.
Bannon has been calling for the president to deploy ICE agents to polling locations this November. Voting rights activists have sounded the alarm about such a move, which would likely intimidate voters and could deter Americans from casting ballots in the midterms.
Bannon brought up the airport deployment serving as a training ground while interviewing right-wing ally Mike Davis.
“Yeah, I do think we should have ICE agents at the polling places because if you’re an illegal alien, you can’t vote,” Davis responded.
Bannon then kept going on about the ICE agents working at airports, noting that they were there to help.
“They’re trained to, wait for it, check IDs,” Bannon said. “That’s why it’s perfect training for the fall of 2026.”
He called it brilliant and claimed it was another “5D chess move from President Donald Trump” and claimed agents would be doing something similar in the fall, as they would be doing at airports.
“Let’s get ICE into the airports to help out in the lines. They can’t work the machines. You know what they’ll do? Walk on down, ‘Hey, we’re going to speed things through. Can we check your IDs?’” Bannon said. “That’s what’s going to happen in the fall of 26.”
Bannon, like Trump, repeatedly claims the elections have been stolen without providing any evidence.
“So from the War Room, suck in that,” Bannon declared.
A DHS official told state election officials on a call last month that immigration agents would not be polling locations during the midterm elections, according to multiple state officials on the call.
“DHS confirms to Secretaries of State that ICE agents will not be at voting locations this year,” wrote Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams on X on February 25.’
But during his confirmation hearing to serve as the next Secretary of Homeland Security last week, Senator Markwayne Mullin would not rule out sending ICE agents to polling locations during the midterms.
Instead, he claimed he would only deploy ICE if there was a “specific threat,” but he did not go into detail on what that could include, saying he could not engage in hypotheticals in an exchange with Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
When Bannon started making claims about ICE being deployed in November last month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked for comment. She said she “can’t guarantee” that an ICE agent would not be around polling locations during the midterms.
When the Daily Beast asked the White House for a response, it cited Leavitt’s previous statement about ICE at polling locations but did not address Bannon’s new claim that the airport serves as training.
Border czar Tom Homan shared on Monday that ICE agents had been deployed to fourteen airports across the country, with more to come.
When Trump was asked about ICE agents being deployed to airports on Monday, he indicated they “love it because they are able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country.”
But he then went on to insist that was not actually why they were there and claimed they were there to help.
