ICE at the airport is just the beginning

[marmar]

ICE at the airport is just the beginning
The expansion of enforcement inside U.S. travel hubs is less about immigration than about normalizing surveillance

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published March 26, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) In almost every movie about life under a dictatorship, there is a scene where the security services order someone to “show me your papers.” The United States under Donald Trump has not fully arrived at that place. But it is closer than most Americans want to admit.

On Monday the president ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist the Transportation Security Administration at the country’s airports. Due to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which began Feb. 14 after the GOP failed to accede to Democrats’ demands to reform ICE, TSA employees have been working without pay for weeks. Some have called in sick. Others have quit. The result: long lines and mounting delays at major airports across the country.

....(snip)....

Much of the mainstream media and political class are treating the ICE deployment as normal politics, just another mess caused by Trump and MAGA Republicans, or by Democrats who have refused to fund DHS — a symptom of extreme polarization and dysfunctional government, or as a data point in the upcoming midterms and the polls. After more than 10 years of experience with Trump, many of these political observers still refuse to become literate in the basic logic of the authoritarian’s playbook. They are hyper-focused on speculating about Trump’s motives and whether he is playing three-dimensional political chess, instead of framing the move as a function of his authoritarian personality and an example of how he is damaging American democracy and society.

Authoritarian regimes attempt to control freedom of movement, association and privacy; this is one of the most direct ways that such leaders exercise power. People internalize the restrictions and conform. Those who refuse to do so are punished. The Trump administration is now using America’s airports as a space for authoritarian training and conditioning. .............................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/03/26/ice-at-the-airport-is-just-the-beginning/

[Firestorm49]

1. Just like "detention" centers are only going to be utilized for illegals - until they come for us.