President Trump announced Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be deployed to U.S. airports beginning Monday to assist Transportation Security Administration workers who have continued on the job during a partial government shutdown now in its sixth week.
The deployment comes as travelers across the country face hours-long delays at security checkpoints. Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis told NPR that more than 400 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown, with thousands more calling out from work due to an inability to afford basic expenses like gas, childcare, food and rent.
The Trump administration has blamed Democrats for the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which began after the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. That incident sparked demands from Democrats for policy changes including a judicial warrant requirement and a ban on ICE agents wearing masks.
What the Right Is Saying
The Trump administration has defended the ICE deployment as a necessary response to the staffing crisis caused by the DHS shutdown. Trump announced the plan on social media, stating "On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job."
Tom Homan, the White House border czar tasked with overseeing the deployment, said Sunday that ICE agents would relieve TSA officers of certain duties. "I don't see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because they're not trained in that," Homan said on CNN. "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, help move those lines."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told ABC that ICE agents know how to run X-ray machines "because they are again under Homeland Security with TSA." Duffy warned that wait times would worsen significantly if Congress does not fund DHS by the end of next week, when TSA workers are set to miss another paycheck.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive Democrats and labor unions have condemned the plan to send ICE agents to airports. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., appeared on CNN to express his opposition.
"The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them," Jeffries said.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, issued a statement saying ICE agents lack the specialized training required for aviation security. "ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security," Kelley said. "They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be."
The ACLU also issued a statement condemning the move, warning that immigration agents at airports could "inspire fear among families."
What the Numbers Show
The partial government shutdown affecting DHS has now lasted six weeks. According to Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, more than 400 TSA officers have resigned during this period. Thousands more have called out from work, citing inability to pay for gas, childcare, food and rent.
DHS did not specify which airports would receive ICE agents, but Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport would be included in the deployment. The agency said it will send "hundreds" of ICE officers to impacted airports.
ICE remains fully funded after Congress allocated the agency billions of dollars last summer as part of Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act. TSA, by contrast, is among the DHS agencies affected by the shutdown.
The Bottom Line
The deployment of ICE agents to airports represents an unusual use of immigration enforcement personnel for domestic operational support. The operation remains a "work in progress" according to Homan, who said he was still finalizing details with TSA and ICE leadership.
Negotiations to end the DHS shutdown have made scant progress. Congress failed for the fifth time last week to advance a DHS funding bill, leaving TSA, FEMA and other agencies without budget authority. Homan met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill but gave no indication a deal was nearing.
The next critical deadline arrives at the end of next week, when TSA workers are set to miss another paycheck. Transportation Secretary Duffy warned that this could trigger another wave of resignations, potentially exacerbating airport delays further.