This week, President Trump dispatched ICE agents to airports across the country, an idea he claims was his own and seems proud of. The agents were sent to help a TSA strained from the partial government shutdown. After Trump's announcement, Tom Homan, the White House 'border czar,' qualified that the agents weren't trained to screen luggage with X-ray machines at security checkpoints, which was maybe obvious but crucial information. Security checkpoints are in fact the main holdup. Travelers report waiting hours in line and missing flights. Homan did say that the agents could assist with other simple tasks, such as manning airport exits, which'as anyone who's been to an airport knows'are generally not the source of delays. ICE's presence is felt as mostly maskless agents, generally just standing around, perhaps sometimes handing out water bottles. Their presence, in other words, isn't solving the actual problem. But the image of benign, mask-free agents is made to endure. After the...
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