In the post-spring break mess, I’ve been keeping up with the airport chaos: delayed flights, lines that last hours, causing people to miss flights, it’s getting out of control. People have started to ask how did it get like this?
Well, it has to do with the fact that we are in a partial Government shutdown. Government Shutdowns essentially happen when Congress can’t agree on a budget, which pauses funding. This time in specific nobody in Congress agreed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reforms, following the tragic shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. A budget was not passed in time, meaning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is shut down. Unlike 35-day government shutdown back in October, the rest of the Federal Government is fully functioning. DHS is currently in it’s 39th day of shutdown.
What is DHS?
The Department of Homeland Security is a federal department that essentially has to do with, (you guessed it), Security. It was established post 9/11, and has a lot of different aspects, Wikipedia says, “Its missions involve anti-terrorism, civil defense, immigration and customs, border control, cybersecurity, transportation security, maritime security and sea rescue, and the mitigation of weapons of mass destruction.”
To follow through on their mission, DHS manages 15 different agencies, not including their management department, here is the list:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
United States Secret Service (USSS)
United States Coast Guard (USCG)
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)
Office of Intelligence and Analysis
Office to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD)
Office of Health Safety (OHS)
Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness (OSA)
Office of the Ombudsman
Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)
Most are probably familiar with the first 3, especially in light of recent news, but this is a lot to manage, and a lot of money to allocate, and when Congress can’t agree, (USUALLY) none of these departments get funding. This means workers go without pay until DHS reopens. These workers are considered essential, which forces them to keep working through the shut down, or quit.
I say usually, because ICE agents are still being paid, as they got a $75 billion dollar increase all thanks to the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
So in summary, the reason all this chaos is ensuing, is because there is now a shortage of TSA workers, and all of them are going without pay.
ICE In Airports
Flashforward, now we have the President Trump adding fuel to the fire. Trump posted this tweet on Truth Social last Saturday; “ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all, But watch no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their works. THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!! President DJT.”
To summarize, he has decided to deploy ICE Agents to airports across America starting Monday March, 23. His reasoning being to help in the shortage for TSA security checks, and mitigate the long lines. The other unspoken reason, is to check people’s ID, and see their status in the United States.
HAs this worked?
I’m writing this article Tuesday, March 24th, so it’s only been a day since the deployment of ICE, so there is no confident answer yet, however many people have still reported that there is no noticable difference in their wait times. There have also been arrests made by ICE agents already, with videos circulating online.
Although I can’t predict the future, there is still reason to believe that this won’t actually help.
Within the past year, we’ve already seen how poorly ICE agents are trained, and we recently saw a whistleblower confirm that many of the guardrails have been removed in training. So why would we have any reason to believe they have any idea of what they are doing when it comes to TSA? There are already videos online of Agents just standing around, while the remaining TSA workers actually run the security checks.
ICE also has the discretion to stop you anywhere at anytime, before or after security checks, which again, creates chaos.
I think what it really boils down to for me, is that the idea “oh lets put a bunch of armed, masked, individuals who refuse to identify themselves in airports” sounds just soooo great, right?! (sarcasm for those who may not be able to tell).
So what about the shutdown?
Back in February I wrote about The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, (for a more in depth explanation you can read my other article “SAVE or Suppression?“) and it has come around to rear it’s ugly head again. The short way of explaining SAVE, is that it is a strict voter ID law, and that sounds good in theory, but in MAGA’s execution, it has turned out to look more like voter suppression in anticipation of the midterm elections. The bill passed in the House of Representatives, but is still stuck in the Senate.
President Trump again posted to Truth Social on Sunday, writing “I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass “THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”
There have been multiple proposed bills to fund TSA, while they negotiate the rest of DHS funding, but the GOP continues to reject these proposals, now coupled with President Trump’s new declaration, we are seemingly continuing this stalemate.
The other concern, is that by the end of the week Congress will go into a 2 week break, for Easter and Passover which means unless they come to an agreement soon, this Shutdown could continue through April.
The answer really is plain and simple in my eyes, get ICE out of airports, stop using manipulation to pass oppressive policy, and pass a partial funding bill. There is clearly money to allow at least TSA to be reopened. President Trump, stop throwing tantrums and do your job.