Trump told ICE agents to remove their masks in airports and exposed a GOP lie

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wear masks, President Donald Trump and his supporters have insisted, because they would be intimidated if they had to show their faces. More specifically, Republicans have argued, bystanders could take photographs of agents’ faces, identify them, and use that information to harm them. But after sending ICE to 14 major US airports where unpaid Transportation Security Administration employees are quitting or calling in sick, Trump said on social media on Monday that “I would greatly appreciate… no masks in the airports.”

It doesn’t make any sense. Putting aside the fact that ICE agents do not have the training to do what TSA agents do; If there was a legitimate threat to ICE agents showing their faces outside airports, that threat would be just as legitimate if ICE agents were inside airports.

Trump’s social media posts on Monday signaled to Democrats that talk of doxxing was always a hoax.

During the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Democrats have sought reforms that include requiring ICE agents to show their faces. Trump’s social media posts on Monday signaled to Democrats that talk of doxxing was always a hoax and that requiring ICE officers to wear face coverings is not non-negotiable, as Republicans had previously insisted.

But we always knew it was a trick. Countless law enforcement officers in America go to work every day not only with their faces visible but also with their names written across their chests. To argue that ICE agents are vulnerable to doxxing by showing their faces is like arguing that all law enforcement officers who show their faces are vulnerable to doxxing. But other law enforcement officers work with their faces visible, a sign long ago that ICE officers might also forgo masks.

They did so at airports on Monday; Their faces were clearly visible. It was less clear what the agents were doing at the airports. Photos and video from some airports showed ICE officers walking or standing by, doing little – if anything – to relieve TSA agents.

Now we know they don’t need masks. that’s good news.

Representative. James Walkinshaw, D-VA

Everett Kelly, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, hinted in a Sunday statement that ICE couldn’t help much, writing: “ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months detecting explosives, weapons and threats specifically designed to avoid detection at checkpoints – skills that require specialized instruction, practical practice and constant recertification. You can’t improve it by It doesn’t fill the gap of having untrained personnel.

ICE agents’ apparent inability to do anything to speed up long security lines at airports isn’t the only thing we’ve learned about the agency in recent days. D-Wa. “Trump realized that ICE agents are not requiring masks in airports,” Rep. James Walkinshaw told MS Now’s Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word” on Monday night. “If they don’t need masks at airports, I don’t understand why they need masks when they’re walking around in communities across the country. Now we know they don’t need masks. That’s good news.”

jarvis dewberry

Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for MS Now Daily. He was previously editor-in-chief at the Louisiana Illuminator and a columnist and deputy opinion editor at The Times-Picayune.