rump wants ICE to ditch masks at airports
Inae Oh
Senior News and Engagement Editor
There is no war in American cities, but masked men shrouded in anonymity, carrying battle weapons and decked out in combat gear, have been hunting down immigrants across the country for nearly a year. In the process, they’ve shot and killed US citizens and terrorized immigrant families. Their tunnel vision of violence has helped the Trump administration manufacture a theater of war where none exists ...
“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.”
The president’s sartorial advice came as ICE agents deployed to airports on Monday, a strategy Trump insists will help TSA agents—who are not getting paid, while the ICE officers now hovering around them are—as they struggle with massive security caused by the partial government shutdown. (Shout out to “Linda from Arizona” for the idea.) When asked about ICE agents dropping the masks, Trump told reporters that airports don’t tend to see “murderers, killers, and drug dealers” ...
In essence, the president was admitting to the outsized role that aesthetics have played as ICE terrorizes communities across the country. It’s this blend of violence and optics he clearly wants to keep from a certain class of Americans. These, apparently, are not the folks that Trump wants to expose to ICE’s campaign of violence, abuse, and harassment—at least not firsthand ...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/ice-airports-masks-trump-theater-of-war/
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