Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed to 14 U.S. airports today, ostensibly to help with crowd management. TSA workers haven’t been paid since funding lapsed in February, due to Congress failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Some people have criticized the administration for sending in ICE agents since there are questions about what qualifications they have to be there, especially after the shooting death of queer mom Renee Good. So CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Trump whose idea it was to send ICE to airports.

Related

Donald Trump hasn’t contacted Renee Good’s family after ICE shot her dead

“Mine, that was mine,” he responded. “That was like the paperclip. Do you know the story of the paper clip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paper clip. It was so simple. And everybody that looked it thought, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ ICE was my idea. I called. The first person I called was [interim ICE director] Tom Homan. I said, “What do you think? He said, ‘I think it’s great.'”

The wire paperclip was first patented in 1867, less than 182 years ago, and paperclips resembling our modern paperclips began being manufactured by the end of the 19th century, according to the Journal of Engineering Education.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

In the responses on X, people found Trump’s analogy strange.