Why are ICE & Border Patrol at airports?
It will limit movement, suspend freedom, intimidate many who have been identified as “domestic terrorists” and enemies of Trump. This means anyone they believe is a dissident could find their travel limited.
I’ve been watching and listening the last few days as ICE invades our airports. Like everything Trump, it is chaos. Much is intentional though some is not. This is what we get when narcissists abound. It seems difficult for many today to accept that there often are multiple agendas at play when policies change so drastically.
The idea of ICE or immigration in general, at international airports does not raise an eyebrow for me. While it is technically CBP (Custom’s and Border Protection) officers we encounter at international airports, it is not unusual to see ICE or Border Patrol agents working there as well. International airports are borders to entering our country, and require the same inspections as water or land ports.
However, when Trump threatened on Saturday to send ICE to the airports, it was not to do normal immigration inspections. It was to make the democrats end the government shutdown and fund DHS (Department of Homeland Security). Trump did not say that he was sending in ICE to relieve TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) wait times. He said if democrats didn’t give DHS money, he would send his ICE agents to disrupt the airports and arrest immigrants. And we all saw what they did in Minneapolis.
I think it is important to recall why Donald Trump and republicans demanded and then passed the Big Beautiful Bill that allotted $75 Billion for ICE alone. In May of 2024, Trump and republicans lied and claimed we were in danger from 32,000 “fighting age” or “military age” men from China who invaded during the Biden administration. They falsely claimed they were creating an army. They lied and said that the Biden administration had let in millions of murderers and rapists, maybe even possible Iranian terrorists. That was the whole basis for needing the mass deportation according to their rhetoric. Border Czar Tom Homan claimed they would focus on national security threats and those presenting public safety concerns.
The fact that Trump has sent armed ICE and Border Patrol agents to airports to threaten travelers and cause chaos in an effort to force democrats to vote for more money for these same agencies smacks of extortion. I mean extortion in the legal sense: attempting to gain something of value (money for ICE), threatening another with personal or reputational harm (the last year has shown us how violent ICE is) and doing so with unlawful or corrupt intent. That corrupt intent is based in a quid pro quo; give DHS their money or ICE will be sent to airports to make arrests.
That is Trump’s sole reason for sending ICE and Border Patrol to our airports.
Since Monday when ICE was deployed to 14 international airports, others have given their thoughts on why the president chose this route. Homan is claiming that this is just a security operation to free up TSA agents, but also admits his agents will not be assisting TSA with any inspections. The Czar stated his “highly trained” ICE agents will be helping prevent people from entering areas labeled “exits.”
Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has hypothesized that ICE is conducting mission creep and preparing the public for ICE at the polls. He called the ID checking ICE agents are doing at airports the “perfect training” for checking IDs at the polls. This move could also be about sending ICE to disrupt voting.
Others have noted that privatizing TSA is part of Project 2025. Substack writer Judith Dayal points out that republicans have been trying to de-unionize and voting to not fund TSA for quite some time. It’s worth noting that there’s a long history of past presidents using the immigration enforcement services to bust unions.
Then there is this interesting piece by Dr. Stacy Patton that looks at the airports themselves. She points out that airports are one of the few places where we are well conditioned to all the surveillance and inspections. This conditioning means we will not protest ICE at airports like we would elsewhere. It also gives ICE agents legitimacy in people’s minds because inspections at airports are seen as legitimate.
Out of all the various reasons for ICE being at airports, I believe Dr. Patton hits on the most interesting one as it points to the larger picture. ICE has become a national police force. And when I say ICE, I mean ICE officers and everyone doing ICE work or supporting ICE. Mainstream media and our political leaders would have us all believe this is about safety, crime, terrorism, missions, policies, political differences, etc. They debate those topics because they do not want to admit this has the potential to be a serious authoritarian move on ICE’s part.
What is an international airport? It is a border.
Restrictions on movement are characteristic of leaders who want to restrict, punish and intimidate their enemies. I imagine the management of DHS is working off existing plans for taking over international airports in times of terrorism or natural disasters. Whether ICE is on board with Trump’s quid pro quo or they are just seizing this as an opportunity for more mission creep, matters little to those who will be caught up in this operation. As Dr. Patton said, this will affect immigrants and citizens of color. It will limit movement, suspend freedom, intimidate many who have been identified as “domestic terrorists” and enemies of Trump. This means anyone they believe is a dissident could find their travel limited.
Trump gets to extort democrats, republicans get to privatize TSA. ICE gets immigrants and more money. The administration gets their enemies. Private prisons get their money.
What ever happened to the 32,000 military age Chinese invaders?
A note of caution: It appears to me that many of these ICE agents being filmed at the airports are new hires. (The ones running from the cameras are not new hires.) These groups of young agents appear to be fearful and do not have what is called “officer presence.” They cling together with one or two older agents leading the way. These appear to be trainees to me. Placing armed trainees with less than 2 months firearms training in crowded international airports is asking for trouble.