US Edition
Trump Orders ICE Agents to Assist TSA at US Airports Amid Shutdown
About 50,000 TSA employees have worked without pay during a partial DHS shutdown, prompting ICE agents to assist at 13 major U.S. airports to ease staffing shortages, officials said.
- On Monday, March 23, 2026, President Donald Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to U.S. airports to assist short-staffed Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at 14 locations amid a months-long partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
- Since February 14, 2026, a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown has forced Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay. Consequently, more than 400 have resigned and callout rates soared to 42.4% at some airports, creating severe security line delays.
- Border czar Tom Homan stated ICE agents will perform support roles like monitoring exits: "We're simply there to help TSA do their job." Critics, including American Federation of Government Employees president Everett Kelley, argue agents lack aviation security training and could distract from screening.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the deployment, saying "Untrained ICE agents lurking at our airports is asking for trouble." Republicans blocked stand-alone Transportation Security Administration funding, insisting on full Department of Homeland Security appropriations, deepening the legislative stalemate.
- President Trump suggested he may deploy National Guard troops if airport measures prove insufficient. With Congress nearing a two-week recess and legislative resolution deadlocked, the shutdown's strain on travel operations and unpaid federal workers threatens to intensify.
805 Articles
805 Articles
ICE is at airports during the travel chaos: What agents are and aren’t doing
Painful travel delays have resulted from a DHS shutdown tied to a dispute over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics. On Monday, ICE deployed hundreds of agents to 14 airports as the Trump administration seeks to ease disruptions.
Donald Trump Is Ready to Protect Airports at a Time When the Democrats Aren’t Even Trying › American Greatness
We are now five weeks into the ongoing partial government shutdown. With it has come chaos for our law enforcement agents nationwide, as well as agencies such…
ICE at the airport reminds affluent white Americans of the consequences of politics
Some liberals and Democrats say that the president’s decision to dispatch ICE agents to major airports around the country is a dry-run for what he’s aiming to do with his secret police force in the upcoming midterms. While I think there’s some truth in it, I also think there’s an opportunity: to expose affluent white Americans to the consequences of politics.Those on the receiving end of ICE operations are usually underpaid brown people who clea…
Senator Grassley says using ICE agents at airports takes away from immigration enforcement
Several TSA agents have left the job as the stalemate over their pay continues. President Donald Trump has moved to end the slowdowns at airport check points by using ICE agents for airport security. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says that is not the duty ICE agents should have. “You take those ICE agents away from […]
Senior Trump officials seem to have no idea what ICE agents are supposed to be doing at airports
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and border official Tom Homan offered sharply different accounts of what ICE agents would do, even as the administration deploys them.
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