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Sunday, March 22, 2026

Trump deploying ICE to airports on Monday to ease crowded TSA lines

ICE officers will be deployed to airports to help clear the horrendous security lines for the TSA, which ran out of funding more than a month ago because of a Democrat shutdown, President Trump announced Sunday.

The move is meant to speed up security lines, which have stretched up to three hours at some airports as TSA agents walk off the job or call out sick because they haven’t been paid in weeks.

“On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president predicted his decision to send the federal immigration agents to airports nationwide would be met with criticism from the left.

“But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work,” Trump said, asserting, “THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB.”

Border czar Tom Homan will be “in charge” of the operation, the president added.

Homan said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that he doesn’t envision ICE agents doing the jobs of TSA screeners, but rather handling other aspects airport security.

“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine – because you’re not trained in that – [but] there are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs to help move those lines,” he explained.

“We’ll put together a plan today, and we’ll execute tomorrow,” Homan said.

The border czar indicated discussions are ongoing about how many ICE agents will be deployed to airports.

“We’re going to do what we can to help TSA move people through the line,” he added.

Travelers have been facing security line hell this past weekend, with wait times Sunday hitting nearly three hours at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, two hours at Houston’s George Bush International Airport, and more than an hour at JFK in New York.

Even before dawn, the TSA precheck line at JFK appeared to be at a standstill and stretched longer than the regular security checkpoint line.

Nearly two-hour-long lines awaited frustrated flyers attempting to reach their gates at New York’s LaGuardia Airport Sunday morning, with the queue in Terminal B stretching into the parking lot.

In New Jersey, wait times at Newark Liberty International Airport ranged from 5 minutes to longer than 30 minutes in some terminals.

At Philadelphia International Airport, the 6 a.m. security lines were backed up to the Marriott hotel on the premises.

“I have never seen a line this long in Philly,” Reuters reporter Jarrett Renshaw wrote on X.

Widespread TSA absenteeism amid a partial government shutdown prompted Trump to start mobilizing ICE agents for use at airports on Saturday, as he called on Democrats to end the stonewalling that has cut off funding and paychecks for TSA screeners.

Roughly 50,000 TSA agents have been working without pay amid the shutdown, which is entering its 36th day.

Thousands of others have called in sick since Feb. 14, and hundreds have quit their jobs altogether.

ICE, unlike TSA, was funded through last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) slammed the plan.

“The last thing the American people need are untrained ICE agents at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or, in some instances, kill them,” Jeffries said on “State of the Union.”

Republicans have pushed to fund DHS, while Democrats have sought standalone funding for agencies like TSA that would exclude immigration operations.

“It’s unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they would rather force TSA agents to work without pay, inconvenience millions of Americans all across the country and now potentially expose them to untrained ICE agents and create chaos at airports throughout the land, rather than get ICE agents under control,” Jeffries argued.

https://nypost.com/2026/03/22/us-news/trump-deploying-ice-to-airports-on-monday-to-ease-crowded-tsa-lines/

Experienced NYPD cops see little incentive to stay with department if Mamdani cuts overtime

More than half of the NYPD’s Joint Terrorism Task Force cops can retire right now, along with thousands of sergeants, lieutenants and captains, worrying officials about the future of terror and crime fighting in Gotham, The Post has learned.

Forty-five of 82 JTTF detectives – or 55% – have 20 years under their belts, which is enough time on the job to leave with a full pension, according to union data.

There are 5,121 active detectives in the NYPD and 1,193 of them — or 23% — are in the same boat, eligible for a full pension after 20 years.

Another 698 lieutenants, or about 42% of the total 1,669, could retire today; 518 captains, or 66% of the 780, could leave; and 954 sergeants, representing about 22% of the 4,300 total, could exit at any time, according to union data.

Police are concerned the thousands of veteran NYPD bosses and gumshoes will flee if Mayor Mamdani cuts overtime, which would significantly reduce their pensions, union officials said.

Officers hired after 2000 get a pension that is half of what they make in their full final year.

So if they think anti-cop Mamdani will cut their future OT pay, it would make sense for them to retire now, and use their 2025 pay under cop-friendly Mayor Adams as the basis for their pension.

“If they have a big overtime year, they have to go,” said Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro, who has been lobbying Albany for the three-year average.

He said a perceived lack of mayoral support, and public anti-cop sentiment that it creates, is also pushing cops to leave.

“What’s happening is people are getting in our police officers’ faces,” Munro said. “They’re harassing them out there in the street.”

Unions are “losing control of people leaving,” Lieutenants Benevolent Association President Lou Turco said.

“Once you hit 20 [years], the department loses control,” he said. “If I have a really good year of overtime and the department decides it wants to cut overtime, I have to leave.”

At the beginning of the year, officers were told they needed to reduce their overtime by nine to 11 hours in February as part of a cost-cutting initiative, The Post reported.

The cuts came during the shortest and coldest month of the year when there were few major events, a spokeswoman said at the time, calling the move “management 101.”

But cops “see the writing on the wall,” said retired NYPD Detective Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who served in the NYPD for three decades before retiring in 2019.

“I did 30 years because it was a good job, I was getting good overtime, and I was enjoying it,” he said.

“But now these guys are not because they’re backfilling patrol,” he said of veteran supervisors forced back to the street to make up for a loss of manpower.

“Detectives and lieutenants are back on patrol,” he said. “You know when you’ve got 20, 25 years you don’t want to put the bag back on and get on foot post, which is what they’re doing.”

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch testified at a City Council budget hearing this week that 2025 retirements lined up with projections based on the number of cops hired two decades ago.

She added that the NYPD had the “largest hiring year on record – more than 4,000 officers” last year.

“We are not in a hiring crisis anymore,” she told the City Council. “We ended 2025 at a headcount of 34,769 — just 250 shy of our authorized headcount.”

“It’s the senior people we do not want to lose,” Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong said.

There are 220 sergeants who are bosses in the detective bureau who don’t get special assignment money, which is basically lieutenant pay, he said.

“If they gave them special assignment money, I promise right off the bat these guys wouldn’t leave,” the union boss said.

Part of the problem with watching veteran officers walk away is that there’s nobody left in the wings to replace them, said Munro.

“I have senior detectives telling their kids, ‘Do not come on this job,'” said Munro, who has two police officer sons. “And that’s not the way this job used to be.”

https://nypost.com/2026/03/22/us-news/zo-no-nypd-experienced-cops-see-little-incentive-to-stay-at-nypd/

IDF kills senior Hezbollah commander

The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday that, through a targeted operation yesterday in southern Lebanon's Majdal Selm region, they killed Abu Khalil Barji, who was allegedly the head of Hezbollah's Radwan Force special operations unit. Two additional militants were also killed.

According to the IDF, Barji had long overseen elite forces recently directing attacks against Israeli soldiers. In a separate overnight operation, military infrastructure belonging to the group was hit across multiple locations.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army was instructed to destroy "all bridges over the Litani River" in southern Lebanon, and additionally speed up the demolition of civilian houses in the villages close to the border with Israel.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/IDF-kills-senior-Hezbollah-commander/65923759

EU Considers Electricity Tax Cuts, Subsidies Amid Iran War Surge In Energy Costs

by Evgenia Filimianova via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The European Union is weighing electricity tax cuts and targeted subsidies to shield consumers and industry from surging energy costs amid the ongoing Iran war, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on March 19.

Speaking after a European Council meeting in Brussels, von der Leyen said electricity prices are driven by energy costs, grid charges, carbon pricing, and taxes.

Electricity taxes and levies in the European Union are on average about 15 percent, she said, adding that the bloc will “propose to mandate lower tax rates on electricity” and ensure that “electricity is taxed less than fossil fuels.”

“In some cases, electricity is taxed much more than gas—partially up to 15 times more. This cannot be,” said von der Leyen, according to a statement.

In the European Union, electricity is primarily taxed through the value-added tax and energy taxation under the Energy Taxation Directive, with additional national levies applied by individual member states.

In the first half of 2025, EU household electricity prices averaged 28.72 euros ($33.20) per 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh), roughly unchanged from the second half of 2024, according to Oct. 29, 2025, Eurostat figures.

Although pre-tax prices declined slightly, the share of taxes and levies rose from 24.7 percent in the second half of 2024 to 27.6 percent in the first months of 2025.

Prices varied widely across the bloc. Germany recorded the highest household rates at 38.35 euros ($44.30) per 100 kWh, followed by Belgium and Denmark, while Hungary, Malta, and Bulgaria had the lowest prices.

Compared to a year earlier, electricity costs surged in Luxembourg, Ireland, and Poland but fell in Slovenia, Finland, and Cyprus.

Supply, Prices

Von der Leyen said that the conflict’s immediate impact on Europe was higher energy prices rather than disruptions to physical supply. The EU remains diversified in its gas sourcing, which has helped shield it from shortages, she said.

Norway was the bloc’s largest gas supplier in 2025, accounting for 31.1 percent of imports, followed by the United States at 25.4 percent, Russia at 13.1 percent, and North Africa at 12.8 percent, according to the Council of the European Union. Smaller shares came from the UK and Azerbaijan.

The EU imported more than 140 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year, with the United States supplying nearly 58 percent of that total, according to research group Bruegel. U.S. LNG deliveries have tripled since 2021. France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium are the largest importers within the bloc.

Von der Leyen said energy costs themselves account for about 56 percent of electricity prices on average.

EU member states already have tools to cushion these costs through state aid, she said, and the Commission will further relax rules to allow more support for vulnerable consumers and energy-intensive industries.

Grid charges are another significant component, making up roughly 18 percent of prices.

The EU plans legal changes to boost infrastructure efficiency and potentially lower charges for heavy industry, von der Leyen said.

Carbon Market Under Scrutiny

Carbon pricing under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) is also being reviewed as leaders seek ways to stabilize power costs without abandoning climate goals.

The system requires companies to purchase permits for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted.

Von der Leyen said that the ETS has helped reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and spurred investment in cleaner energy, but acknowledged that volatility in permit prices has raised concerns among manufacturers.

The Commission will propose measures to modernize the system while preserving its environmental objectives, she said.

EU officials aim to complete the review by July, though member states remain divided on how far reforms should go. Some governments favor expanding free emissions allowances for industry to shield companies from high energy costs.

Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso suggested more drastic steps could be necessary if consensus proves elusive. On March 9, he said suspending the ETS could serve as an “emergency response” if reforms cannot be agreed quickly.

Urso said industry estimates indicate that scrapping the system could cut electricity prices by 25 to 30 euros ($29 to $35) per megawatt-hour.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/eu-considers-electricity-tax-cuts-subsidies-amid-iran-war-surge-energy-costs

Over 5,500 Residents Ordered To Evacuate In Hawaii Over Dodgy Dam

by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

More than 5,500 people on Hawaii’s most populous island have been ordered to evacuate on March 20 as weather conditions continue to worsen and threaten the integrity of a 120-year-old dam.

That island, Oahu, which is home to the capital, Honolulu, is forecast to face severe rains capable of bringing risks of flash flooding and landslides over the next several days. The National Weather Service predicted that Oahu could receive four to 10 inches of rain between March 20 and March 23. This comes after the island received more than 26 inches of rain between March 10 and March 16.

The life-threatening inundation is affecting much of the archipelago.

“Much of the state is already saturated with rain from last week’s storm, and this additional rain will bring a major risk of flash flooding and landslides,” Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency stated on X, urging residents and visitors to sign up for local emergency alerts.

🚨Incredible images of the Spillway, Wahiawa Reservoir (Lake Wilson), upstream from the Wahiawa Dam in Hawaii.

DAM/LEVEE FAILURE IN PROGRESS OR EXPECTED at WAHIAWA DAM. Potential life-threatening flooding of downstream areas.

📸Permission: Jacob Vandervelde pic.twitter.com/JymFmegErI
— Live Storm Chasers (@LiveStormChaser) March 20, 2026

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in an afternoon press conference that dozens, if not hundreds, of homes had been damaged, but no official damage assessment had been completed by that point.

Along with the thousands of evacuations, dozens of people have had to be airlifted to safety, and hundreds more were bused to different shelters.

But this rain has brought an extra risk to towns along the island’s north shore, as Honolulu officials warned that the Wahiawa Dam was “at risk of imminent failure.” That order and warning was first issued at 5:35 a.m. Hawaiian time, and Oahu Emergency Management stated at 1:03 p.m. that the dam had not failed, but the risk of failure and a “potential life-threatening flooding of downstream areas” remained.

The dam was built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Company, which would become owned by the Dole Food Company. The dam collapsed in 1921 and was rebuilt. Dole agreed to transfer ownership of the dam to the state, which wants to spend more than $20 million on improvements, but the transfer has yet to be completed.

“The dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage,” Dole said in a statement, adding that it was working closely with authorities to monitor the dam. “We encourage all to follow instructions from local and state authorities and stay vigilant during this storm.”

The evacuation zone covers a swathe of the northwest shoreline from Kawailoa Beach to Ka‘ena Point State Park, and includes the Dillingham Airfield, as well as the town of Waialua.

Meanwhile, a flash flood warning remains in effect for the entire southeast half of the island. That warning area includes Honolulu, Pearl City, Kahalu‘u, Nanakuli, Makakilo, and Waimanalo.

Elsewhere, the island of Maui Nui is expected to get eight to 15 inches of rain by March 23, the Island of Hawaii—also known as “the Big Island”—is expected to get two to six inches, and Kaua‘i will get up to three inches.

Hawai'i: Extensive flooding across Waialua’s agricultural fields as the Kona Low continues to hit the North Shore hard. Devastating for the local farming community.

Maui’s tallest peak, Haleakalā, has seen a staggering 32.39 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.

The entire… pic.twitter.com/PyPEA1LzGW
— Paul White Gold Eagle (@PaulGoldEagle) March 17, 2026

Residents were advised to move immediately to higher ground and warned that some roads would become impassable.

“There’s no question that the damage done thus far has been catastrophic,” Blangiardi said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/more-5500-residents-ordered-evacuate-hawaii-over-dodgy-dam

At least 15 injured in Tel Aviv cluster bomb attack

Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported on Sunday that at least15 people were injured in a ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv by Iran that used a cluster bomb warhead, sending dozens of smaller explosives across an extensive area. Most victims sustained light injuries.

Ichilov Hospital said four of its seven admitted patients are in moderate condition. MDA noted that a 53-year-old man, initially listed as moderate, has since worsened to serious condition.

Meanwhile, officials are reportedly considering drastic reductions in flights at Ben Gurion Airport due to the rate of fire and use of such munitions.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/At-least-15-injured-in-Tel-Aviv-cluster-bomb-attack/65923648

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