A woman interviewed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey has gone viral for her response to reporters who asked for her thoughts about President Donald Trump's announcement that he would deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports amid a partial government shutdown that has caused exceptionally long delays at TSA lines nationwide.
ICE agents are still getting paid during the shutdown, unlike TSA agents, who are currently working unpaid and struggling amid the affordability crisis. News outlets have confirmed ICE agents have been deployed in airports that serve Democratic strongholds, particularly John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports (New York), O'Hare International Airport (Chicago), and others.
More than 400 TSA agents have left their positions since DHS funding lapsed and their payments were paused and ICE agents on duty have already been recorded detaining travelers, even arresting two people in San Francisco.
Delays in Newark have soared amid the funding delays, and wait times are expected to spike now that more workers have called out.
When asked for her thoughts on Trump's decision to deploy ICE agents to airports across the country, the woman said:
"I think it's terrible. I think... I don't want to get political too much but I think they should solve this and what I hear is there's proposals on the table to get funding for the TSA."
"I just flew in here and saw a bunch of ICE people down at the baggage claims. Not sure what they're doing at the baggage claims, I don't know if TSA, I don't know why they would be people getting their baggage."
When asked who she blames for the funding lapse, she said:
"Trump. I really do. I've seen what's going on in Minneapolis and I'm very opposed to some of the tactics of ICE. I stand with the Democrats on this one."
When asked how she feels about the fact that ICE agents, who have worn masks throughout the Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown, are not wearing masks in airports and if "that helps," she replied:
"No, not all. I'm watching downstairs, we all came in, we saw people bracing themselves like, 'What the hell's going on here?' There were a lot of people who were taking pictures and sort of watching them."
"They were just milling around, not doing anything, just sort of chatting. I don't know what their function was."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many felt she said it all—and they echoed her criticisms.
As expected, we can count the ICE deployment among the rest of Trump's bad decisions.
