‘X’ finally lives up to expectations in Minnesota

I was just getting ready to tell the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on its “X” account that its credibility is shot and we don’t believe what it says.

Then, I remembered: nuts, I am sitting in an airport terminal on Grand Cayman. The DHS decides if and when I get back home.

Draft deleted.

Good idea, my wife said, sarcastically.

Sorry about the Grand Cayman reference. My wife and I are lucky to have had decent jobs and to have saved enough for retirement trips that take us out of Iowa during winter when we have enough air miles built up and while our health allows it.

Anyway, we had to return to the Midwest. When we did, we got to see in the airport in Atlanta something that has been missing from pictures and videos we had been watching:

Polite, smiling, helpful U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Turns out, adequate training matters at the Department of Homeland Security when meted out.

Some might confuse these officers with the more militant Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, especially after Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. They have different missions, although both are at Atlanta’s airport.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is not absolved of being an ICE-ordered deportation site. A Colombia woman fleeing persecution and eight months pregnant was shipped out of there in November after being transferred from Louisiana while in what her lawyer says was severe pain. A year ago this month, the Trump administration sent ICE agents to the airport to take a man into custody.

But, here were border agents on a January 2026 day welcoming us back into the United States. I had expected worse. When we returning from a trip to Scotland last summer, we were greeted at the Atlanta airport with videos of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, sternly warning that the United States was not going to let criminals enter this country. No “howdy-do, partner,” or “welcome to the U.S., good buddy.”

Just a mean-looking person warning us about entering a messed-up country.

“It is TSA top priority to make sure you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible while we keep you safe,” the Debbie Downer of South Dakota said in the video. “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government. And because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”

Welcome to America, people from other countries who did not care who Democrats are, nor who Kristi Noem is, for that matter. For reference, Noem was the problem solver blaming others for forcing her into making the video.

It was quite a contrast with how the Cayman Islands welcomes visitors. “Welcome to the Cayman Islands,” reads the usual welcome sign you would expect. “Let us know how we can improve our services!” another one inviting you to rate your entry experience reads.

A port authority official there told me I had to put my camera away while in line because I could not take photos at the entry point. I stowed the camera and there were no more incidents, even though I got the photo I wanted.

Anything to declare? we were asked. We confessed to having caramel M & M's in a bag. Caramel M & M's are permissible, the woman in the booth said while laughing,

Each night on Grand Cayman, I checked the platform I had criticized heavily in a September Substack column as the cesspool formerly known as Twitter — X. What I saw in January was illuminating in a sad, angering way but which showed there still might be value on the platform.

Video after video shows ICE-inflicted violence in Minneapolis on a daily, continuing basis. The videos were taken and shared by people in the United States willing to fight back against the party-line from Donald Trump and those supporting the thuggery he leads. Truth to power, citizens were showing visual evidence that flatly contradicted Trump and his mouthpieces, including his Secretary of Homeland Problem Solving.

“At least the X-world will know a vast array of Americans are out there and care a lot about this country and cannot fathom the lunacy that can breed in every corner of the United States,” I wrote in September, urging people to flood X in opposition to the slop Trump and his enablers dump on that platform.

Now, the tables have turned on Trump on the X social media platform. We saw what’s happened to Renee Good and Pretti and we can see what is happening in Maine.

Meaningful truth-telling on X. Smiling, helpful border officials who know how to do their jobs professionally. Turns out this America thing just might work in the right hands.

Lyle Muller is a retired Iowa journalist who still works as the professional adviser for Grinnell College’s Scarlet & Black newspaper. He is a former editor of The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), He is a recipient of the Iowa Newspaper Association’s Distinguished Service Award, Iowa College Media’s Association’s Eighmey Award, and Iowa Newspaper Association’s Stratton Award. lylemul@gmail.com