President Trump threatened Saturday to send immigration agents to work airport security checkpoints as soon as Monday if congressional Democrats do not accept a Republican funding plan for the Department of Homeland Security. In posts on Truth Social, Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would conduct security "like no one has ever seen before," including immediately detaining people in the country illegally, with a stated focus on immigrants from Somalia. The action would represent a significant change in the way airport security is handled, the Washington Post reports: Transportation Security Administration officers normally manage checkpoints, while some Border Patrol agents assist at certain airports along the southern border.
Trump posted a few hours later that he had decided to make the move, per the New York Times, saying he told ICE to "GET READY." Many TSA agents are off the job while their pay is held up by a congressional impasse on restrictions for immigration enforcement. Trump has urged them to work anyway. John Sandweg, an ICE official during the Obama administration, said such a deployment seems like Trump is "seeking to utilize ICE in a way that achieves political goals, almost as a punishment," per the Post. He added, "The operations, to me, don't seem to be designed to focus on public safety."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday urged Republicans to support a Democratic measure that would fund TSA separately from DHS. The same day, the Senate rejected a Democratic motion to take up legislation that would reopen TSA and pay the workers, per the AP.
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