President Donald Trump’s Sunday announcement that he will deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports is a stunt, not a policy solution. But so is the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which deserves to have its funding restored as soon as possible.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on “Fox News Sunday” that ICE officers won’t do X-ray screening but could guard exit doors and perhaps check driver’s licenses. The union representing TSA screeners responded that monitoring exit doors has been largely automated and the other tasks require specialized training.
This donnybrook underscores why federal agents should not be in the business of screening passengers. There is no reason why nonunionized private contractors, following government-set standards, cannot perform every TSA function more efficiently and at a lower cost than federal workers. Major airports in San Francisco and Kansas City use private companies to perform screening without issue, as do most European countries.
Rather than privatizing TSA or deputizing ICE agents to do jobs they weren’t hired for, the quickest solution is to fund DHS.
The compromise has been obvious since the partial shutdown began on Valentine’s Day, but Democratic leaders have been afraid of getting crosswise with their angry base. Meanwhile, Trump didn’t want to look like he was caving, even as he recognized that his administration’s “mass deportation” campaign has backfired politically.
The result is that TSA agents have worked without paychecks for five weeks, and many are now no longer showing up to work – even though they’ll receive back pay whenever the shutdown ends. The mayhem amid spring break, with travel horror stories, is creating momentum to act.
Behind the scenes, negotiators have been making progress to fund DHS.
Democrats want ICE agents to get a judicial warrant before forcefully entering homes. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), Trump’s nominee to replace Kristi Noem as DHS secretary, verbally committed to that during his confirmation hearing. There’s no downside to just writing the policy into law.
The same applies to three other items that Trump’s negotiators have also agreed to in talks with Democrats: the expanded use of body-worn cameras, more training and limiting civil enforcement activities at hospitals, schools and churches.
Government shutdowns are never necessary, but the latest ranks among the most pointless. The sooner it ends, the better.
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