ICE Agents will assist in airport security as DHS shutdown continues.

 

Long lines due to a lack of TSA agents. BBC/Getty.

ICE Agents will assist in airport security as the DHS shutdown continues. BBC. Travelers have been facing hours long lines due to a lack of TSA agents for security. ICE agents are well suited for the role as many of them use similar machines on the border. ICE will not be involved in screening passengers directly, but they will be used to free up TSA agents so they can do so. The lack of funding for DHS has caused TSA agents to go without pay for more than a month and 400 agents have quit.

My Comment:

I've got mixed feelings about this. First, the negative. I don't really want ICE agents doing anything other than deporting illegal immigrants. I know that deportations are still going on but the problem is big enough that even the 3 million that have been deported or left is hardly a drop in the bucket. I want that number to go up by a very large amount and every agent helping at our airports is an agent not deporting illegal immigrants. From what I understand the impact will be minimal, ICE has 22,000 agents and only a hundred or so are going to be used here, but still. 

But I have to admit that this is a great solution to the TSA shutdown. ICE agents are going to be able to help the TSA with these long lines and will eliminate much of the leverage the Democrats have on this issue. ICE already has experience with the kind of roles they will be used for so it's a natural fit. 

The Democrats whole strategy was to put pressure on the Republicans to somehow defund ICE and they were relying on making travelers miserable in order to do so. With this deployment they aren't going to accomplish that. Indeed, they won't accomplish anything whatsoever and the longer the shutdown occurs the more criticism they are going to get. 

What will the Democrats do now? My guess is they will get some kind of temporary injunction to prevent President Trump from doing something he clearly has the authority to do. They will find some judge that cares more about screwing over President Trump over the law, just like they have done so many times before. But eventually the ruling will be overturned. 

Regardless, I do think this is going to backfire on the Democrats. ICE hasn't been affected by this shutdown at all, it's already funded, so all this is accomplishing is punishing the people at the TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard. Given the current security situation it's insane that the Democrats are holding this funding up. All it would take is one major terrorist attack and the whole thing will be beyond bad for the Democrats. 

And it's not like the issue is exactly relevant anymore. The conflict with Iran has stopped the momentum of every single other news story in the country. Nobody is talking about ICE and deportations anymore and the Democrat's "martyrs", Renee Goode and Alex Pretti, have been almost completely forgotten, except when the Republicans mock them for causing their own deaths. It's a non issue now and people are going to be upset.