ICE Airport Deployment Shows Officers Only ‘Need’ Masks When They’re Kidnapping People

Failures

from the balaclava-is-just-another-word-for-'accountability-deflector' dept

Before we get to the lie exposed here, let me just offer a correction of my own. As many, many, far too many people pointed out in my last post on ICE being sent to airports, people do actually guard airport exits. My assumption was based on my own experience on wishing to remain in airports until I had boarded my plane, so I never went looking to see if TSA agents were posting up at exits. So much for the universal experience, by which I mean I felt my experience was the universal experience.

Moving on…

Sending ICE to replace TSA agents who left the job after they stopped receiving paychecks was never going to solve the problem. In fact, it was going to introduce new ones. First and foremost, “border czar” Tom Homan said specifically that ICE wasn’t there to replace TSA agents:

“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine. Not trained in that? We won’t do that,” Homan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

So, if they’re not trained to do TSA work (and there’s no reason to believe they are, considered they’re probably not even trained to ICE work), there’s really not much they can do to expedite the boarding process. What are they actually doing at airports? Well, it’s tough to say. A lot of photos and videos show ICE officers leaning against walls or standing around while the lines remain as long as they were before Homan sent officers to airports. (There are also photos of ICE officers doing things I assume they aren’t actually trained to do, unless they consider a 10-minute handoff by a departing TSA agent “training.”)

Homan suggested ICE officers might be able to step in to verify identification, which is absolutely the last thing you want officers with an arrest quota to be doing.

Here’s another thing ICE officers aren’t doing while hanging around airports facilitating absolutely nothing in terms of expedited security screenings: wearing masks.

President Trump claims he “asked” ICE officers to not wear masks while working in airports, which is definitely yet another thing That Never Happened.

Here’s the direct quote of Trump’s bullshit:

They were wearing masks. I said, do you mind taking off your masks in the airport? And they took them off. And people said wow, these are nice guys. People are starting to say, ICE, you are nice guys.

A. He never said this to ICE officers. B. Nobody actually thinks simply removing a mask converts an ICE officer into a “nice guy.”

But everywhere you look, there are ICE officers operating out in the open without feeling the need to mask up:

Including this pair of ICE officers…

Who apparently looked like this, prior to being sent to LaGuardia:

And that demonstrably counters the narrative pushed by Homan himself, who has constantly claimed demanding ICE officers remove their masks will immediately subject them to violence, doxxing, and whatever else can added to his clown car parade of horribles:

White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday defended the use of masks and other facial coverings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as necessary to protect agents from a rise in assaults and violent threats reported by the Department of Homeland Security.

“I don’t like the masks, either,” Homan said in an interview Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” Still, he said, “these men and women have to protect themselves.”

Point of order: I’m sure Homan actually likes the masks. In addition, the only thing these officers are protecting themselves from is accountability. That’s why they’re fine standing around airports without masks but definitely need them when they’re jumping out of unmarked cars to kidnap people on public streets.

It was never about protecting ICE officers from the public. It was always about shielding officers from the consequences of their own, often-illegal actions. This shutdown has exposed yet another administration lie.

The other lie is this: that this was anything other than a trial balloon for adding ICE to airports permanently.

Border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would remain at airports until TSA officers are able to resume normal operations.

“We’re going to continue an ICE presence there, and until the airports feel like they’re in 100%, you know, in a posture where they can do normal operations,” Homan said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “So if less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there.”

ICE currently has the largest budget of any federal law enforcement agency. I’d imagine the $50,000 signing bonus, along with the guarantee that your paychecks will continue to arrive no matter how long the government is shut down, looks far more attractive to ex-TSA agents than returning to their prior positions. ICE will remain for the foreseeable future. And once the officers are there long enough, the administration will conveniently forget this was supposed to be temporary.

Filed Under: airports, ice, liars, security theater, tom homan, trump administration, tsa