“Test run”: Bannon says ICE presence at airports is practice for midterms

To travelers who still find themselves waiting in hours-long security lines, the decision to deploy ICE agents at a handful of U.S. airports might seem like a huge waste of time and money. To Steve Bannon, it’s practice.

The former adviser to President Donald Trump said that the unorthodox ICE deployment could work as a “test run” for hypothetical ICE presence at polling places during the 2026 midterms.

“We can use what’s happening with these ICE [authorities] helping out at the airports, we can use this as a test run, as a test case to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast Monday.

His guest, conservative lawyer and lobbyist Mike Davis, agreed.

“I think we should have ICE agents at the polling places, because if you’re an illegal alien you can’t vote, right?” he said. “If you’re an American citizen, you should be happy that ICE is there.”

Bannon agreed, before blaming undocumented immigrants for the long lines at airports.

“Pick ‘em out of line starting today, and maybe the lines will get shorter,” he said.

The delays at U.S. airports are the result of a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. In opposition to recent ICE actions, Democrats in Congress have withheld funding for the department, which includes the agency responsible for airport security. TSA agents have been asked to work without pay, with many either quitting their jobs or calling in to work.

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It’s not the first time that Bannon has called for ICE agents to police polling places.

“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” he said on his podcast last month. “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

While Trump hasn’t gone so far as to suggest ICE agents outside of election centers, he has floated the idea of bringing voting under Republican federal control. Both Bannon and Trump are looking to combat the entirely fabricated scourge of election fraud supposedly perpetrated by undocumented immigrants.

These people were brought to our country to vote and they vote illegally. Amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” Trump said in February. “The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”