ICE Agents Deployed to Airports Amid DHS Shutdown, TSA Staffing Shortages

Spring break travelers at some of the nation's busiest airports found ICE agents stationed at exits and ID checkpoints while TSA officers were shifted back to scanning lanes, the result of an emergency deployment ordered by President Donald Trump as a partial government shutdown entered its seventh week.

White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed the plan Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union with Dana Bash," saying hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would begin arriving at airports Monday. The priority, Homan said, would be terminals where security wait times had stretched to three hours. DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis confirmed "hundreds" of officers would be deployed but declined to name specific airports, citing security reasons. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed the deployment independently, saying ICE and Homeland Security Investigations officers would arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Monday morning.

Homan was explicit about what ICE agents would not do. "I don't see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we're not trained in that," he said. The plan instead assigned ICE officers to exits currently staffed by TSA agents, ID checks at screening area entrances, and other front-line duties that Homan said would free TSA officers to return to scanning lanes.

"We're simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don't need their specialized expertise," Homan said. "But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker, and we're just simply helping our fellow officers at TSA."

Homan described ICE as "a force multiplier" while acknowledging the plan was still being finalized. "It's a work in progress," he said, pledging to have "a plan by the end of today, where we're sending what airports we're starting with and where we're sending them," coordinating directly with the heads of both agencies.

Trump announced the move Saturday on Truth Social, writing "ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!" and posting Sunday that "On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job."

The crisis driving the deployment traces to a congressional funding impasse. Congress has not approved a DHS budget, keeping the agency in a partial shutdown since mid-February. About 10% of TSA's 50,000 security agents called off work since the shutdown began, compounding pressure during one of the heaviest travel periods of the year.

The deployment drew swift condemnation from House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who warned on CNN: "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."

Homan said the airport assignment would not suspend ICE's standard enforcement functions. "We do immigration enforcement at airports all the time. So it's not going to change. It's not going to change," he said. The deployment, he added, would continue until airports feel like they are 100% operational.