What started as a social media post from President Trump on Saturday has quickly grown into a full-scale plan to send ICE agents to US airports.
Amid the partial government shutdown, TSA lines have grown hours long at some US airports, causing problems for travelers across the country. Complaint rates have begun to rise at some airports, and the US Department of Homeland Security said at least 376 TSA agents have quit since the partial shutdown began on February 14.
White House border adviser Tom Homan said ICE plans to send agents to airports as soon as Monday, and that he was working with other officials to determine where to send the agents.
“It’s a work in progress,” Homan said during a Sunday appearance on CNN. “But we will be at the airports tomorrow helping the TSA move those lines.”
Homan emphasized that ICE agents will provide support where possible, so that TSA employees can better fulfill their special duties.
“I don’t see an ICE agent checking the X-ray machine, because they are not trained in that,” said Homan.
In a statement on Sunday, the spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said Trump’s push to send ICE to airports “proves to be a real-time problem.”
“ICE has become the president’s lawless, poorly trained police force, tasked with carrying out his agenda – not the law,” according to the statement. “That is why it must be arrested.”
These plans seemed to be starting to work following Trump’s post on social media on Saturday which read, “If the Radical Left Democrats do not immediately sign an agreement to allow our country, specifically, our Airports, to be FREE and SAFE again, I will send our smart and patriotic ICE Agents to the airports where they will perform unprecedented security.”
Expanding the deployment controversy beyond reducing long lines at the TSA, Trump said ICE would also oversee “the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who come into our country, with a particular emphasis on those from Somalia.”
Speaking on the Senate floor Sunday, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said, “ICE agents, who are untrained and have caused problems everywhere they’ve gone, lurking in our airports — that’s asking for trouble. And it’s going to make the chaos at our airports worse.”
At the heart of the partial shutdown is a disagreement between Congressional Republicans and Democrats over continued funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Republicans want to fund all aspects of Homeland Security, while Democrats want that funding combined with ICE reforms. Democrats have put forward bills to fund key parts of Homeland Security, including the TSA, which Republicans have opposed.
Although talks are said to be ongoing, the shutdown could drag on for a long time as Congress is scheduled to go on a two-week recess starting at the end of this week, and each side blames the other for the continued shutdown.
In a social media post, Vice President JD Vance wrote, “We’ve all seen the chaos Democrats have created at airports across the country. It’s ridiculous that Chuck Schumer continues to withhold TSA funding.”
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, “Right now, Republicans are holding back the salaries of TSA agents because they want to give more money to ICE, without fundamental changes to protect the rights and safety of the American people.”
Appearing on MS NOW on Saturday, before Homan’s confirmation that ICE would be sent to the airports, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) said, “The American people don’t want ICE in our communities, they don’t want it in our airports. In general, as I support, they want ICE done away with.”
Swalwell did not respond to a request for comment Sunday, but wrote in X, “Pay TSA. Don’t pay ICE.”
In a Sunday interview with ABC, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “Democrats want to see long lines at airports as a benefit.
The backlash to the White House’s plans to put ICE at airports was swift.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, issued a statement that read, “masked, armed police at travel checkpoints is the stuff of dystopian movies. Now, Donald Trump is threatening to bring this tool of fascism to America. He is wreaking havoc in airports to get political power around him and try to force the Democrats’ secret police to inspect the country’s secret.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “The last thing Americans need is untrained ICE agents deployed at airports across the country, potentially brutalizing or, in some cases, killing them.”
In a statement Sunday, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officials, said, “More than 50,000 TSA employees have worked without pay for more than five weeks. Hundreds have quit. And Washington’s response is not to pay them. It’s to send ICE agents to do their job.
“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security,” Kelley said. “You can’t fix that. Putting untrained staff at security checkpoints doesn’t fill a gap. It builds. … Congress has the power to fund the TSA today. It’s time for them to stop playing politics and do their jobs.”
Representatives for Los Angeles International Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Orange County’s John Wayne Airport said she is currently unaware of any contact or Homeland Security guidance on the proposed program.
A spokeswoman for San Francisco International Airport said airport officials have not received any specific information from Homeland Security about the deployment of ICE agents. He said SFO’s security staff is not part of the TSA, and as such, the airport does not have screening backups.
