![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #57201](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/chris-scali-fox-news-1024x576.jpg "Viral interview captures what traveler really thought about ICE agents helping TSA at airports")
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A Brooklyn man went viral for his take on the deployment of ICE agents to airports nationwide to assist TSA agents as the DHS shutdown consequences played out over the last several weeks.
Chris Scali briefly spoke with News 12 at Newark Liberty International Airport, saying ICE agents were “good” and not bothering anyone — comments that quickly gained widespread attention online.
com/category/travel/vacation-destinations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vacationing in the Bahamas;he said he’d arrived with a friend at the airport four hours early.
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“I walked into the airport, I saw a very small line and all I thought was, Now I gotta be here for three hours,” said Scali.“I started seeing the ICE agents walk, and I was like, They just look like they’re here to help.”
He added, “I mean, the last I knew, people were scared to go to airports years ago.Themore safety [and] security,the better.That’s just the way I feel.I don’t really care who was there to help.”
Chris Scali of Brooklyn, New York, went viral after he expressed support for ICE agents who were helping out at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey amid the DHS shutdown. (Chris Scali)
“As long as everything goes smooth in the airport and everyone gets on their planes — God bless,” he said.
Scali said he felt their presence was just “common sense,” noting that every time he goes to aninternational airport, he sees customs agents and border patrol present.
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“I wasn’t too sure what the fuss was [about].Am I crazy?I don’t know,” he added.
The sports betting influencer of “Sports By Scal” on YouTube said a friend texted himthe interview,telling him it was all over X, which Scali does not have.He said many people were sending him the clip.
“I was so surprised because I didn’t really say much,” said a New York man about the presence of ICE agents at airports to help with crowd control and security line management.“I just said the obvious, that if they’re here to help, they’re here to help.”(Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Scali said it was the best flight he’s ever been on — and that the plane was half empty.
“Me and my girl, we just wanted to sit down, relax on the beach, have acouple of drinks, enjoy ourselves — you know,” said Scali.“The last time I went on vacation was probably six months ago, so this was well deserved.”
going to the airport,” said Scali.
“I haven’t traveled in so long, but I don’t want to deal with a headache.It makes you not want to travel.Then you get there and everything’s smooth — easy peasy.”
“As long as everything goes smooth in the airport and everyone gets on their planes — God bless,” said one New York traveler about the extra help for airport security. (Matthew Hoen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
While Scali expressed a favorable view of ICE agents at airports,Democratic lawmakerscriticized the decision by the Trump administration.
New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani posted to X on Tuesday, writing, “ICE doesn’t belong at our airports.”
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U.S.House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries shared a similar sentiment earlier this week.
“The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports, all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them,” said Jeffries.
“I haven’t traveled in so long, but I don’t want to deal with a headache.It makes you not want to travel.Then you get there and everything’s smooth — easy peasy.”
PresidentDonald Trumplate Thursday said he would sign an executive order to “immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation” and “quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports.”
In the wee hours of Friday morning, the Senate advanced a new, last-minute deal to reopen most of the DHS, 42 days into the shutdown that was spurred by the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Minnesota.
Arriving U.S.citizens and Green Card holders stand in line to clear immigration at Newark airport in New Jersey on Monday, March 9, 2026, amid the partial government shutdown.
It was an agreement that largely gave Senate Democrats what they wanted — no funding for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
While the deal mirrors previous attempts by Democrats to pass similar legislation that carved out immigration funding, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued Democrats are still walking away empty-handed in the policy fight over immigration enforcement.
onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.
“We’ve beentrying for weeks to fundthe whole thing,” Thune said.“And, I mean, in the end, this is what they were willing to agree to.But again, it’s different [in] that it has zero reforms in it.I mean, they got no reforms on DHS, which they could have had if they had been willing to work with us a little bit on that.”
�s Alex Miller contributed reporting.
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