How TSA Lines Are Shifting Political Leverage On Immigration
Left, Right & Center
KCRW
3.9 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code KCRW at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/kcrw
The political brinksmanship over ICE enforcement goes on as travelers in some U.S. airports face hours of wait times at TSA checkpoints. History says voters would blame the party holding things up – Democrats – but polls suggest otherwise, which may be why Republicans are trying so hard to find a compromise. But Democrats aren’t budging, and President Trump isn’t throwing his own party a bone.
With ICE officers deployed to more than a dozen airports, there’s concern that they might be at polling sites this fall, too. The administration hasn’t completely ruled it out, citing potential security issues. Plus, the Supreme Court also tackled voting questions in a case about mail-in ballots. We’ll talk about the substance, and how President Trump might be using the case for political gain.
We also answer a listener’s question about talking to family from across the political aisle. Sarah Isgur is with us on the right and Mo Elleithee joins us on the left.
Producer: Leo Duran
Host: David Greene
Guests:
- Mo Elleithee, executive director at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service - @MoElleithee
- Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch - @whignewtons
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to left, right and center, everybody. I'm David Green. We should say we are starting this show on time this week, but this is going to be a show about delays and more delays and more delays. And I'm not just talking about TSA checkpoints at airports around the United States, but also a delay by the government itself to agree on ending this partial shutdown of |
| 0:23.4 | the Department of Homeland Security that's gone on now since Valentine's Day. |
| 0:26.6 | Homeland Security workers are hurting. Travelers are beyond fed up with the disastrous |
| 0:33.4 | situation at U.S. airports. And we cannot continue to keep this critical department unfunded. |
| 0:41.9 | That is the voice of Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who does, does sound very |
| 0:47.1 | worried about this and really wanting to do something about it. And yet, as we record this |
| 0:51.6 | show on Thursday, Republicans are very much caught in the middle. |
| 0:56.7 | Democrats, it seems, have held firm for weeks now on their demands that the Department of Homeland |
| 1:02.4 | Security will get funding, but only with reforms to immigration enforcement and tactics used by |
| 1:08.7 | ICE officers. They've also offered to fund DHS departments like |
| 1:13.5 | TSA separately. That is an idea, though, that the GOP rejected. On the other side of this, |
| 1:18.7 | you have President Trump himself saying no to any DHS funding bill that does not include |
| 1:24.3 | the Save America Act. That is an unrelated overhaul of our federal elections. |
| 1:30.9 | They're negotiating a deal. |
| 1:32.9 | I guess they're getting fairly close. |
| 1:34.7 | But I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it. |
| 1:40.6 | I pretty much threw water all over that, didn't he? |
| 1:42.5 | So we're going to take a step back here |
| 1:44.3 | because when we look at these weeks of negotiations, it has allowed Democrats, at least from my |
| 1:51.8 | perspective, to unite around the issue of immigration. And it has put a spotlight on how this |
| 1:58.3 | is becoming a liability for Republicans, especially as we head into |
| 2:02.0 | these midterm elections. So let's talk about that. We have Moe Alaythe here on the left and Sarah |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KCRW, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of KCRW and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.