What happened
President Donald Trump and White House border czar Tom Homan yesterday said immigration agents would be deployed at some U.S. airports starting today to help the Transportation Security Administration move travelers through security lines faster. Homan said his goal was to free up trained TSA agents. Trump on Saturday portrayed the move as a way to pressure Democrats to stop blocking Homeland Security Department funding to force a change in ICE tactics. TSA agents, like most DHS employees, have been working without pay since Feb. 14. ICE agents are being paid through a different DHS account.

Who said what
Until Democrats agree to fund DHS, ICE agents would “do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants,” Trump said on social media. His first posts on the deployment “came as a surprise to officials inside ICE and at DHS, who have spent the weekend trying to figure out how it could work,” The Wall Street Journal said, citing three people familiar with the matter. The officials also “expressed frustration with the plan,” saying it would “distract” from mass deportations and reduce “Republicans’ leverage in the funding fight.” 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy yesterday told ABC News that “Democrats want to see long lines at airports as leverage,” and Trump was “trying to take that leverage away.” Senate Republicans on Saturday “rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to fund TSA,” The Associated Press said. Trump last night urged Republicans to reject any DHS funding deal with Democrats unless Congress passes an elections bill with stricter voting registration rules.

What next?
The ICE deployment is “a work in progress,” but “we’ll have a plan by the end of today,” Homan told CNN yesterday, and “we will be at airports tomorrow, helping TSA.”

What happened
An Air Canada regional jet landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport last night crashed into a fire truck, killing the pilot and copilot, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said this morning. The Federal Aviation Administration shut down all flights at the airport until 2 p.m. today to facilitate the investigation of the collision. Of the 72 passengers and crew aboard the flight from Montreal, 41 were hospitalized and 31 have since been released, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said at a press conference this morning. 

Who said what
Air Canada Express Flight 8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a rescue and firefighting truck that was “responding to a separate incident” shortly before midnight, LaGuardia said in a statement. Photos of the scene showed “severe damage to the front of the aircraft, with cables and debris hanging from a mangled cockpit,” and the “damaged emergency vehicle” on its side nearby, The Associated Press said. 

The plane was “going about 130 miles per hour just before it hit the fire truck,” CNN said, citing data from Flightradar24. Air traffic control had granted the truck permission to cross the runway to a United flight that had reported an odor making flight attendants ill, then seconds later urgently ordered the truck to stop, according to audio from the tower. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the incident.

What next?
LaGuardia is a “critical hub for the busy Northeast corridor,” with “nearly 900 departures and arrivals each day,” The New York Times said. More than 400 flights were canceled today, “compounding delays at an airport already under strain” from TSA worker shortages.