Trump teases National Guard deployment at airports | Political News

President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the National Guard to U.S. airports in the wake of journey chaos as the partial authorities shutdown drags on.

On Monday, brokers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement began spreading out at over a dozen airports nationwide to take on some of the tasks of Transportation Security Administration officers impacted by a funding downside in the federal authorities.

“What I see ICE agents doing is helping TSA plug the holes of security,” White House Border Czar Tom Homan said Monday to ABC News. The ICE officers stationed at airports will continue to implement immigration legal guidelines, President Donald Trump assured reporters on Monday.

“They really are a high-level group of people and they love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory,” Trump said during a dialog with reporters on the tarmac in Palm Beach, Florida. “But that’s not why they’re there. They’re really there to help.”

Trump went on to say, “If that’s not enough, I’ll bring in the National Guard.”

As federal law enforcement officers, ICE brokers will act if they witness “illegal activity,” according to Homan.

When requested whether or not ICE officers would implement immigration legal guidelines at airports, Homan responded, “We’re not going to ignore illegal conduct in the airport whether it’s human trafficking, whether it’s alien smuggling with somebody that’s wanted, whether it’s … someone that they believe they have reasonable suspicion to talk to because they feel there’s a criminal activity in front of them.”

“Of course, anybody would need probable cause to make any arrests, but yeah, their law enforcement officers and they’re not going to ignore the law while we’re there,” Homan said.

“I’m leaving it up to the TSA Administrator, who’s an expert airport operations,” Homan added. “Where can we plug the holes? Where can we increase security, especially in this heightened security environment, because what’s going on the world? Where can we help you move those lines and American people more quickly to inspections while maintaining security at the airport?”

Trump had earlier tweeted a message on social media requesting that ICE officers not put on masks when aiding with airport screening as they began to arrive at airports on Monday.

In his post, Trump acknowledged, “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports,” including that he’s a “BIG proponent” of ICE brokers donning masks when they “search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals.”

When reporters questioned him Monday on Air Force One about his push for ICE brokers to take off their masks at airports, Trump responded: “Because the people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren’t murderers, killers, drug dealers, etc. There may be a few of them. But there aren’t many.”

One of the main factors of competition for opponents of Trump’s nationwide mass deportation scheme has been immigration officers carrying masks.

Trump added that typical vacationers at airports are “people that want to come into the country, and that want to leave the country, going to maybe their home countries, so I didn’t think it was an appropriate look for an airport.”

Early on Monday, ABC News noticed ICE brokers at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

In the midst of long traces of passengers making an attempt to go through security, the brokers appeared to be aiding with crowd control at the airport. There had been previously long lineups exterior the terminals at the Atlanta airport.