ICE Agents Arrive at U.S. Airports Amid TSA Staff Shortages, Funding Fight

The Washington Post

11:09 JST, March 24, 2026

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrived at several domestic airports Monday to assist with federal staffing shortages caused by a partial government shutdown, a day after President Donald Trump said he would order the move unless congressional Democrats agreed to a funding deal to end the impasse.

Trump administration officials said the ICE personnel were being dispatched to assist the Transportation Security Administration amid lengthy security lines at some airports that have caused hours-long delays for some passengers.

Representatives for airports in Atlanta; Cleveland; Newark; New Orleans; New York; Fort Myers, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Phoenix confirmed that ICE officers would be on-site Monday. The George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, both in Houston, also were anticipating some officers, according to the Houston Airports website.

And Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson confirmed a planned deployment of about 75 ICE personnel at O’Hare International Airport, saying the officers would monitor exit lanes, make passenger announcements and assist with managing lines.

Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, said officers would be sent to more than 14 airports in all, but he declined to identify the locations due to concerns about public protests.

“We’re going to first send out to the biggest airports with the biggest wait lines,” Homan said on SiriusXM’s “Cuomo Mornings.”

TSA staffers are working without pay, and some have stayed home, amid the shutdown of some parts of the Department of Homeland Security, which began after its funding lapsed on Feb. 14. Democrats have opposed a GOP-backed bill to reopen the agency over demands for measures to rein in the aggressive tactics that federal officers have used in pursuing Trump’s mass deportation operation.

Though TSA has been affected by the funding impasse, ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection remain largely operational because Congress approved a massive funding increase to immigration enforcement in a GOP-backed tax-and-spending bill last year.

Lauren Bis, an acting assistant secretary at DHS, said hundreds of ICE officers are being deployed to “airports being adversely impacted” by the partial shutdown. More than 400 TSA officers have quit and thousands have called out from work, Bis said.

By midday Monday, the line to pass through TSA security in Terminal 5 at New York’s JFK was about 45 minutes long. Several ICE officers were present near the start of the security line.

Passenger Ray Mohan, 66, who was traveling to Las Vegas with his 95-year-old father, said the line was not as long as he had feared. He was dismissive of the presence of ICE officers.

“Those guys are really getting paid to do nothing,” said Mohan, an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who moved to New York three decades ago. “That is what this is all about. They are not finding … illegal people here.”

Democrats and immigrant-rights groups have criticized Trump’s use of ICE personnel at airports, saying they are not trained for TSA operations and could improperly use their authority to try to make immigration-related arrests. That follows a long-standing criticism by Democrats that the administration has been fast-tracking training in the rush to get thousands of additional ICE officers into the field.

The debate over ICE’s role comes as the Senate is likely this week to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) as homeland security secretary, after Trump removed Kristi L. Noem from the job this month. During his confirmation hearing last week, Mullin pledged to take steps to defuse public criticism of the agency, though his testimony has yet to sway Democrats into supporting the DHS funding package.

Rep. Troy A. Carter (D-Louisiana), whose district includes most of New Orleans, called Trump’s order to deploy ICE officers to airports “a political stunt and cheap theater,” and noted that Democrats had tried five times to pass legislation that would ensure TSA employees are paid during the partial shutdown.

“If Republicans truly care about protecting our airports and supporting the men and women who keep travelers safe every day, then they should join Democrats in funding the TSA and paying these dedicated workers,” Carter said Monday.

In social media posts over the weekend, Trump suggested officers would be detaining undocumented immigrants at airports, “with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia,” a country whose immigrants the president has increasingly targeted in recent months.

The president also posted a message saying ICE officers should not wear masks at the airports, in what appeared to be a nod to growing public dissatisfaction with the agency’s tactics in the wake of the fatal shootings by federal immigration officers of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said he was informed that agents from Homeland Security Investigations, who typically focus on criminal cases, would be at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, along with ICE agents. In a statement Sunday, Dickens said officers indicated that they would not be focused on immigration enforcement.

Michele Dynia, spokeswoman for the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, said ICE officers would not be conducting identification checks or screening passengers.

“These personnel are supporting TSA operations in a non-screening role, including assisting with passenger flow and divesting,” she said.

The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport said on its website that all federal officers would operated in accordance with the law “and in a manner that is consistent with the customer service standards PHX is known for.”

The security line at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, stretched across the terminals and outside to the main passenger drop-off area. Large white tents were set up outside to protect travelers from rain and heat, as some waited up to three hours.

Tyler Peronace, 22, who is a student at Long Island University in New York, traveled to Puerto Rico last week for spring break and was trying to fly back on Monday.

“I’ve been to Atlanta, the busiest airport, and this is the longest line I’ve ever been in,” said Peronace, who said he did not feel threatened by the ICE personnel.

Nelson Santiago, 53, and his wife, Doris, arrived at the San Juan airport five hours before their flight to Medellín, Colombia, was scheduled to depart.

“If their purpose is to help, they’re not doing it,” Santiago said of the ICE officers. “They’re not doing anything.”