President Donald Trump on Monday asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to forgo wearing masks while addressing the “Democrat caused mess” at U.S. airports.
Trump warned that he would move ICE agents to airports swiftly if Democrats did not “immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again,” and on Monday, he followed up with a request. While he made it clear that he generally supports ICE agents wearing masks, he prefers they forgo face coverings while helping address the “Democrat caused MESS at the airports.”
“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful ‘Border Czar,’ Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy,” Trump said.
He added, “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc. Thank you! President DJT.”
Trump Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed the move to bring ICE agents to airports during a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. When asked by host Dana Bash if agents would move into U.S. airports beginning Monday, he said it was true.
“Yes. And, I’m currently working on the plan now, execution. I’m working with the director of ICE and the administrator of TSA, the acting administrator. So we’ll put together a plan today and will execute tomorrow,” Homan said.
Bash pressed further, asking if ICE agents are “even remotely trained to handle security at airports.” Homan said the agents receive a “high level of training” and noted that this is not necessarily new, as many ICE agents are already assigned to airports across the country.
“They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigations of smuggling at airports,” Homan said. “But, you know, there’s, I mean, we’ve got TSA agents covering exits, you know, people that enter through the exits certainly, highly trained ICE law enforcement officers can cover an exit.”
According to CNN, ICE agents will be TSA checkpoints at 13 airports across the country beginning Monday. Those airports include:
Chicago-O’Hare International Airport
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York)
LaGuardia Airport (New York)
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Newark Liberty International Airport
Philadelphia International Airport
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, and Southwest Florida International Airport were also included on the list.