President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he intends to send ICE agents to airports across the United States on Monday, amid the ongoing standoff between Senate Republicans and Democrats over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding later, “I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’”
Before that post, Trump wrote that unless Democrats “immediately sign an agreement” he will move to deploy ICE agents into American airports and conduct security enforcement “like no one has ever seen before.”
“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” he wrote.
Trump’s comments on Saturday came as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt to pass a standalone bill to fund the TSA in a 41-49 vote. This occurred just a day after Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ efforts to pass a bill that would fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been partially shut down since mid-February.
Democrats have demanded policy changes regarding ICE and Customs and Border Protection in exchange for votes to fund the entire department. Republicans, however, have rejected Democratic efforts to fund other DHS agencies, such as the Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, during an appearance on Fox News earlier Saturday, called on Democrats to negotiate with Republicans.
“I just wish they would stop using the American people as leverage. Make them go through pain so Democrats can get what they want legislatively,” Duffy said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), in a speech on the Senate floor on Saturday, urged Republicans to support a Democratic effort to fund TSA while other negotiations continue.
“It is unacceptable for workers and travelers and entire airports to get taken hostage in political games, but that’s what the Republicans are doing,” he said.
“It is unacceptable to say we will only pay TSA workers if it is attached to a bill that funds ICE with no reforms, but that’s what the Republicans have been doing. Democrats want to pay TSA workers ASAP, with no strings attached,” Schumer added.
