Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey claimed that President Donald Trump could hire more Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents rather than deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers despite an ongoing funding shutdown on Sunday.
“When he says that he’s going to do security like no one has ever seen before, he doesn’t actually mean that he’s going to keep people secure,” Frey said on MS NOW’S “The Weekend.”
“If the goal here was safety at airports, he could hire out more TSA agents that do an incredible job at keeping our airports safe,” he continued.
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The Minneapolis mayor made the argument while criticizing Trump’s announcement that ICE agents would be deployed to airports throughout the country to help with long lines.
“If the goal was keeping our streets safe and our cities [safe], he would work with cities around hiring additional police officers and creating the kind of safety infrastructure that we need to keep people safe. But of course, we all know that’s not the goal,” Frey added. “The goal is to terrorize people. And for someone that states that they care so much about bringing the economy back — causing a ton of fear in airports, preventing the kind of safe air travel that we need for commerce, is not a good mechanism to do it.”
However, the president does not have the authority to hire more TSA agents without congressional approval and funding. Several agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the TSA, are currently in an ongoing funding shutdown while congressional Democrats want to negotiate reforms to immigration enforcement.
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Trump does have the authority to deploy members of a separate agency, such as ICE, to supplement workers, though ICE agents do not have the same training as TSA agents.
Frey was not corrected on his comment while on the show.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Frey’s office and MS NOW for comment.
The DHS shutdown entered its 37th day on Sunday with thousands of TSA agents going without pay for more than a month.
More than 400 TSA employees have since quit their jobs, with several more calling in sick and refusing to show up for work. The resulting shortage has led to hourslong lines at many major airports.
