Hundreds of Federal Air Marshals sent to guard Trump's ICE flights instead of usual role on passenger jets: report
Source: The Independent
Thursday 31 July 2025 23:08 BST
Roughly 200 Federal Air Marshals have reportedly been reassigned from their usual duties protecting the U.S. transit system to assist with Trump administration deportation flights alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Marshals, the main law enforcement arm of the Transportation Security Administration, better known for missions like protecting U.S. commercial flights, are instead carrying out tasks on deportation flights like providing security, handing out sandwiches to detainees, checking them for lice, and cleaning plans, CNN reports.
The reported deployment has proved controversial within the Marshals community, with the Air Marshals union praising the mission, while a lobbying group for Air Marshals argues it distracts from the agents core function and sees the Marshals acting as glorified security guards for government contractors that manage some flights.
The group, the Air Marshal National Council, has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security inspector generals office, and has warned the new mission could undermine aviation and national security and expose federal officers to unsafe and improper working conditions.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ice-flights-air-marshals-b2799983.html

Irish_Dem
(73,928 posts)Terrorizing the country is the priority.
BlueWavePsych
(3,152 posts)
Irish_Dem
(73,928 posts)stollen
(958 posts)Trump is inviting an attack to happen.
Irish_Dem
(73,928 posts)He wants crisis, calamity, emergency.
stollen
(958 posts)Presidential popularity is low. What he needs is an attack on the US to bring everyone on board against a scapegoat. Iran?
Irish_Dem
(73,928 posts)Let the games begin.
muriel_volestrangler
(104,544 posts)That means someone is stealing that cash.
Hope22
(4,142 posts)When do the people shut the country down until the truth is divulged. Stealing money charged to the deficit. Perfect!
OldBaldy1701E
(8,916 posts)Aww... welcome to our world, federal agents! Maybe you should speak to us about these horrible conditions that you are so concerned about.
We peons know all about 'unsafe and improper working conditions'.
riversedge
(77,562 posts)karynnj
(60,516 posts)In 6 months, they greatly expanded ICE, contracted with a right wing foreign government to build special "prisons", used "probably military" planes to fill with people given no due process before being sent to countries in Africa themselves in crisis.
ICE now has a huge budget, but even that budget likely does not show how the assets they have as they use money and resources approved for other things.
In addition, they are working to make all police forces work for their goals. This will make the police less successful at their police work as some people can't come to them when they know of problems. Not to mention, some of their time will have been diverted.
On a separate path, they are working to eliminate birthright citizenship. Reading between the lines, I think this is because of their belief in the concept of "anchor babies". If they are successful, there will be no future anchor babies. Next step may be something they cynically might call keeping families together where children born before this change but under 18 (or 21), even though American citizens, will be deported with their parents.
It was already said that you can't just get numbers like 12 million people out of the country. In reality, we are seeing things most of us never would have believed could happen especially as they obviously planned starting blue states.
I suspect Steven Miller and others spent a lot of time planning what they would do and as soon as Trump was sworn in started acting on it so quickly it has been hard for us to even take in all of what they are doing.
Hornedfrog2000
(848 posts)Do you mean putin? Im guessing most of this has been in the game plan for decades.
karynnj
(60,516 posts)I suspect the detailed plan to rid the US of Hispanic and other POC undocumented non citizens was from Steven Miller and White nationalists.
Tetrachloride
(8,927 posts)The stain in Cain stays mainly in the planes.
... so many rhymes...
NowsTheTime
(1,197 posts)popsdenver
(387 posts)demoted to quasi flight attendants on Con Air type flights.......
LudwigPastorius
(13,345 posts)...putting a totally inexperienced person in charge of counter terrorism program development.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dhs-thomas-fugate-cp3-terrorism-prevention
...and now, removing the people meant to stop another 9/11.