Air travel in the United States is in crisis because of policy failures that have escalated from a nuisance into a national crisis. At Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world, passengers faced security lines stretching for hours as TSA callout rates hit the highest since the shutdown began, with more than 3,200 officers nationwide failing to report to work. As the system buckles under this strain, the Trump administration is deploying ICE officers to stabilize operations, a practical response that has triggered immediate outrage from Democrats claiming it is unsafe or unlawful. The reality, however, is political: Democrats are leveraging the crisis to block standalone TSA funding unless ICE and Customs and Border Protection budgets are cut, turning stranded travelers into pawns in a broader fight over federal priorities.

This type of brinkmanship is irresponsible and a national security risk. Airports are designed for efficiency and convenience, but they are also high-risk, high-value targets that require structured, coordinated federal oversight to ensure screening, identity verification, perimeter control, and threat detection. As staffing levels collapse, internal pressure increases and vulnerabilities emerge, creating risks adversaries can exploit.

Political leverage is being applied to the most sensitive parts of our national infrastructure, and Americans are feeling the direct consequences. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged that Democrats are refusing to pass standalone TSA funding unless Republicans strip all funding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Plainly, this means American security is being used as a bargaining chip in a broader political fight over immigration policy, and travelers are being forced to absorb the fallout.

TRUMP DEMANDS ‘SAVE AMERICA ACT’ BE TIED TO DHS FUNDING AMID AIRPORT CHAOS

As the country faces a Democrat-manufactured strain on airport operations, President Trump ordered the deployment of ICE officers to help stabilize airports, prompting immediate and predictable claims that the move is unsafe or unlawful. Those claims are patently false. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Ice officers operate with full federal authority to question, detain, and arrest removable individuals in the United States. The Homeland Security Act grants DHS broad authority to allocate personnel across its components to secure transportation systems. There is no statute requiring that only TSA personnel perform functions such as identity verification, perimeter security, or line management. Under this broad authority, DHS retains the ability to reallocate federal personnel in a crisis, making clear that Democrats are raising a political objection, not a legal one. This authority has always existed under federal law.

And beyond the politics, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries escalated the rhetoric with outright fearmongering. Appearing on CNN, he warned that deploying ICE agents to airports could result in them “brutalizing or, in some instances, kill” travelers. That is not a legal argument grounded in statute or even reality. It is a political narrative used to block a crisis response.

What this moment exposes is an inconsistency in how Democrats treat federal enforcement authority. They accept it when it suits them and reject it as unlawful when it doesn’t. House Democrats have voted for bills that provide billions to fund ICE and DHS operations, and 75 House Democrats supported a resolution expressing gratitude for ICE’s role in protecting the homeland. Democratic leadership has repeatedly voted to keep DHS funded, including ICE, despite backlash from their own base. However, now the officers are too dangerous to assist with routine airport functions. That contradiction is impossible to ignore.

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Even within the administration, there has been discussion about how best to implement the deployment. Border Czar Tom Homan made clear that ICE agents aren’t trained to operate X-Ray machines but will be assigned to non-screening roles, such as securing exits or assisting with basic security functions to free up TSA officers for screening duties. At the same time, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy emphasized that ICE officers are trained federal law enforcement personnel capable of supporting airport security. That operational distinction is worth discussing but does not support the claim that the deployment is unlawful.

The more important question is what happens next. There is no clear path to resolution, and TSA staffing will not recover overnight. If Democrats continue to use funding as leverage, the strain on airport operations will persist, forcing a choice between allowing critical infrastructure to degrade or deploying the federal resources already available to stabilize it. This is the direct consequence of turning operational capacity into a political bargaining tool.

While headlines may continue to focus on airport delays, what is happening at airports is a real-time test of whether the federal government can function under pressure. If political actors withhold funding, manufacture operational strain, and then block lawful solutions to extract policy concessions, that playbook will not stop at the TSA. It will extend to border security, disaster response, law enforcement, and every other system where federal resources can be leveraged for political gain. The truth is that the law has not changed, the authority has always existed, and the surrounding outrage is manufactured.

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When I came to California in the Reagan days, it represented the heart of America — a Golden State where families could work hard, start businesses, and live out their very own American Dream. Today, California has earned a very different reputation: the land of scams.

During the pandemic, criminals siphoned $32 billion out of California’s unemployment system. That’s well above most states’ budgets, enough to fix every pothole from San Diego to Sacramento. And that’s just one program.

We’ve seen millions in SNAP funds diverted by criminal rings in recent years. Millions more have been stolen by AI “ghost students” enrolling in California community colleges and pocketing the cash. Most recently, we’ve seen billions in Medicaid funds go toward non-essential healthcare for illegal immigrants and hundreds of millions more down the drain for fraudulent hospice schemes.

Every time I pick up my phone, there’s fresh fraud in California — and all of this with Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom jetting off to so many European cities, you’d think he was a Eurovision popstar.

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I have written to Newsom directly about each of these cases. In all but one instance, I’ve received no response — not even an acknowledgment of receipt. The lone exception was a dismissive answer regarding my letter on Medicaid fraud, in which the administration claimed the problem was an overblown non-issue because the state would simply reimburse the federal government for improper payments.

It is clear that federal and state dollars are not being competently accounted for in the middle of this fraud circus. Is this really the standard of accountability we want for our hard-earned taxpayer dollars? As a California taxpayer, I certainly do not.

That’s why I introduced the “No More SCAMS Act” to create a federal interagency task force dedicated to cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse across government programs. For too long, our federal agencies have been trying to tackle fraud with no playbook, tripping over themselves while scammers run up the score. My bill puts one quarterback on the field with one game plan and a single mission: stop the fraud.

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Despite what Sacramento Democrats or Newsom himself might have you believe, the movement to crack down on fraud isn’t some Republican gotcha tactic. It’s good government that puts Californians and Americans first.

These resources should be going to students, veterans, mothers and low-income families in need — not fraudsters and organized criminal rings while career politicians look the other way. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar taken away from Americans who actually need the help and from taxpayers who are stretched thin.

Sadly, fraud is running rampant and California is ground zero. Instead of having a governor focused on fixing the problem and making our state better, we have the biggest snake oil salesman of all.

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Everyone here in California has felt the reality of Newsom’s disastrous policies firsthand. Since he took office in 2019, prices have skyrocketed, crime has spiked, and hardworking Americans can’t afford to raise a family. The American Dream of homeownership has become a generational privilege instead of a goal families can realistically work toward.

Despite all of this, I still believe in our Golden State. It’s my home. It’s where my family is. And it hurts me to see so many of my friends and neighbors struggling because of Sacramento’s out-of-touch policies.

I’ve been battling this lunacy since my days in the State Assembly and continue that fight today as the representative for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. I didn’t come this far to watch our state be run into the ground by scams, corruption and failed leadership.

It’s true, we’re in the fight of our lives for the soul of California. Working with President Donald Trump, I’m determined to take on that fight and help bring California into its Golden Age.

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A progressive Chicago lawmaker issued an apology Tuesday after facing backlash for suggesting a slain college student was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”

Last Thursday, Sheridan Gorman, 18, of Westchester County, New York, was gunned down while taking a walk with friends around 1:30 a.m. along Chicago’s lakefront.

Alderwoman Maria Hadden sparked outrage on social media after she suggested in an interview with Fox 32 Chicago that the Loyola University Chicago student was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and that she may have “startled” the individual who shot and killed her.

The local Democrat’s comments were slammed as insensitive and also prompted a response from Gorman’s family, who referenced her remarks.

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Hadden, a progressive ally of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, released a statement Tuesday saying her interview on Fox 32 had “gone viral on conservative media,” and that her comments were in response to a question comparing Gorman’s murder to a separate 2018 case.

“In an effort to make sense of a senseless situation, I said things that landed wrong with some people,” she said. “My comments were never intended to blame the victim or to imply that Sheridan should not have been out enjoying the park or that it was her fault that she was shot.

“In the interview, I tried my best to share what limited information I had with our community as fast as possible while helping to address the fears people had about the shooting,” Hadden continued. “I sincerely apologize for any additional pain that my comments may have caused.”

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She added, “The fact that some media outlets are intentionally creating sound bites to misconstrue my words during this tragedy is also unfortunate.”

Gorman’s family referenced Hadden’s remarks from the Fox 32 interview, saying the slain college student “deserved the future that was stolen from her.”

“What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed.”

CHICAGO LAWMAKER RIPPED OVER ‘DISGUSTING’ RESPONSE TO COLLEGE STUDENT KILLED BY ALLEGED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

The family added: “We cannot accept a world where moments like this become something people grow used to. We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to violence. When we begin to accept these tragedies as inevitable, we all become vulnerable to them. Apathy is not harmless—it allows these moments to repeat.”

Jose Medina-Medina was arrested and charged with Gorman’s murder.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Medina is an illegal immigrant who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration before being apprehended and released into the country.

DHS said the 25-year-old Venezuelan national was previously arrested for shoplifting in Chicago.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.