It’s an open question why exactly Donald Trump deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to a variety of American airports. The stated goal had something to do with helping Transportation Security Administration officials during the partial government shutdown, but given their lack of training, and the apparent absence of a meaningful plan, ICE agents were seen standing around doing nothing in several locations on Monday.
One of the president’s allies, however, shared some insights into a possible motivation for the policy. The Hill reported:
Former White House strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers assisting with airport operations is a “test run” for the 2026 midterms.
During a conversation with conservative lawyer Mike Davis on his ‘War Room’ program, Bannon asked, ‘We can use what’s happening with these ICE [officers] helping out at the airports, we can use this as a test run, as a test case to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections, sir?’
His guest, predictably, wasted little time in expressing his agreement.
To be sure, reports like these come with caveats. Bannon is a prominent MAGA voice, but he’s not currently a White House official and he has earned a reputation as a blowhard who says outrageous things to get attention. There’s no reason to assume Bannon has any idea what he’s talking about in terms of likely future developments.
But the recent history is relevant too. Early last month, Bannon became the first leading figure on the right to publicly endorse deploying ICE agents to local voting precincts, which seemed ridiculous — right up until a variety of Republicans, on Capitol Hill and conservative media outlets, started endorsing the tactic.
In other words, radical ideas can pop up on “War Room,” but it’s not unusual to see those same ideas spread quickly in GOP politics.
What’s more, there’s a certain political logic behind the dynamic Bannon described. The administration may very well want Americans to grow more accustomed to seeing ICE agents — on public streets, in busy airports and elsewhere — so that it seems less jarring to see them similarly patrolling local polling places, looking for fraudulent voters who don’t exist in any meaningful way.
A few months ago, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker appeared on MS NOW and told Rachel Maddow that he was concerned about the Republican administration deploying federal agents to polling locations under the pretense of “protecting the vote.” The more Bannon endorses this approach, the more alarming his rhetoric becomes.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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