One day before President Trump announced his plan to deploy ICE agents to airports throughout the country, that same strategy was pitched live on a conservative radio talk show.
A caller identified as “Linda from Arizona” phoned in on March 20 to the Friday afternoon edition of the “Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” to pitch a “solution” to the “TSA problem,” which essentially boiled down to, “We need to bring in ICE agents.”
The following day, Trump declared his idea on social media. The president then began his plan Monday by deploying ICE members to airports throughout America.
The move was done in an attempt to address the long TSA security lines that have been clogging up airports in recent weeks, thanks to Congress’ inability to approve new funding for the Department of Homeland Security. House Democrats continue to demand that Trump alter his immigration enforcement policies and ICE tactics, but Republicans remain steadfastly opposed to the proposed changes.
As a result of the stalemate, the DHS has been partly shut down for five weeks and counting. That has led to the TSA line delays, which “Linda from Arizona” thought ICE could fix.
“It’s kind of a brilliant idea,” Travis said in response to the pitch. Later that day, the radio host appeared on the Friday edition of Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” and reiterated the idea.
“What if President Trump announced that ICE agents were now going to be supplementing TSA agents inside all of the airports?” he said at the time.
Notably, Trump has taken sole credit for the origin of the plan. The president was even asked Monday morning by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whose idea the plan was, to which he replied, “Mine.”
“That was like the paperclip. Do you know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paperclip. It was so simple, and everybody that looked at it said, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’” Trump said, adding, “ICE was my idea.”
COLLINS: Who's idea was it to put ICE in airports?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 23, 2026
TRUMP: Mine. That was like the paperclip. Do you know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago a man discovered the paperclip. It was so simple. And everybody that looked it thought, 'Why didn't I think of that?' ICE was my… pic.twitter.com/iAdv3z7SC3
The “Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show’s” social media team was nonetheless quick to commend their caller for inspiring the president.
“On Friday, a caller named Linda proposed a brilliant idea. Friday night, Clay talked about it on Fox. Today, President Trump took the advice! Way to go, Linda,” the show’s Facebook stated on Saturday.
That same day, Trump stated that ICE was ready to move into airports.
“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’ NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump said, though he did not provide any details on exactly what the agents will be doing to help out as long security lines and wait times rise after more than 400 TSA officers quit amid the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
Trump’s critics remain concerned about the negative encounters and side effects that ICE agents’ presence at airports could cause. That has not stopped the president from deploying members of the agency throughout the country Monday, though, including the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.
Raquel Dillon contributed to this story.
