President Donald Trump said that while Democrat lawmakers want to make a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), he feels there should be no deal made “until they approve” the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
In a post on X, Hannah Brandt, a Washington, DC, Correspondent for NewsNation, shared that during a phone call with Trump, she asked him, “How long he’s prepared to have” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at airports. Brandt’s question to Trump comes after he announced over the weekend that if Democrats do not agree to fund DHS, he will place ICE agents at airports where “they will do Security,” including arresting illegal aliens.
“In a phone call just minutes ago President Trump told me Democrats want to make a deal on DHS funding but he doesn’t ‘think any deal should be made on this until they approve save America,’” Brandt wrote.
“First I asked him how long he’s prepared to have ice agents help out at airports,” Brandt added. “He told me, ‘For as long as it takes.’”
Brandt also shared that she brought up how “some lawmakers” have suggested funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as lawmakers have still not come to an agreement regarding funding for DHS. Trump said that now that he has suggested placing ICE agents at the airports, “Democrats want to make a deal.”
“I don’t think any deal should be made on this until they approve SAVE America,” Trump told Brandt.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared that he did not “think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats” unless they agreed to pass the SAVE America Act.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump wrote. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people – UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children.”
The post from Brandt comes as Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have suggested that funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) be split from funding for DHS.
Cruz’s suggestion comes as airports throughout the United States have seen long TSA lines as spring break travelers have flooded in. Airports have also issued warnings to passengers to arrive anywhere between three and four hours before their flights.
This comes as TSA workers have been faced with working without being paid since the lapse in DHS funding began on February 14.
DHS has revealed that since the partial shutdown started, over 400 TSA employees have quit, according to NBC News. Out of the number of TSA employees who have quit, “almost half have over three years of experience, and a third have over five years.”
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