Trump to Deploy ICE Agents to Airports Amid Shutdown & TSA Staffing Crisis

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to U.S. Airports on Monday to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel, escalating a standoff with congressional Democrats over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The announcement, made via a post on Truth Social, follows a Saturday threat to deploy ICE agents if Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport security as a partial government shutdown continues. “On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to facilitate our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job,” Trump wrote.

TSA personnel are currently missing paychecks as lawmakers clash over funding for DHS, the agency overseeing both TSA and ICE. The shutdown began on February 14, and TSA officers have been calling in sick at increasing rates, disrupting travel at major airports. DHS reported Saturday that over 10 percent of TSA officers called in sick on more than half of the past seven days, and more than 400 TSA workers have resigned since the shutdown began, with further resignations and call-outs expected.

ICE agents are not trained in airport security screening, a task typically handled by TSA’s 65,000 employees, including 50,000 security officers. The function ICE agents would perform at airports remains unclear, according to CNN reporting.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, criticized Trump’s proposal as “another reckless, lawless threat to misuse ICE agents.” He told reporters in Washington that Trump “seems to have no concept of what the limits are on ICE, and I think America would be absolutely appalled to notice ICE agents roaming through airports, just as they’ve been breaking down doors at homes.”

Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, issued a statement calling Trump’s actions “manufacturing chaos at airports for political leverage” and described deploying ICE agents to travel checkpoints as bringing a “tool of fascism” to America. Thompson called on Trump to “stand down his secret police, agree to reasonable ICE reforms, and let us pay TSA workers.”

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, offered Saturday to cover TSA paychecks “during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country.” Representatives for DHS, TSA, and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Stewart Baker, a former DHS policy official during the George W. Bush administration, noted that DHS has historically shifted resources between agencies during staffing shortages. He said keeping TSA operational without paying staff creates “serious trouble” for the agency, and that using ICE agents, while potentially slower than using trained personnel, would be preferable to having no security staff at all.

ICE, along with Customs and Border Protection, has deployed agents in recent months as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown. A recent operation in Minnesota resulted in ICE agents fatally shooting American citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti, sparking backlash and prompting the administration to adopt a more targeted approach in that state.

This month, Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid criticism of the administration’s immigration tactics. The U.S. Senate is currently considering the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, as the next DHS secretary. A DHS funding bill remains stalled in Congress as Democrats seek changes to ICE operations, including a prohibition on agents wearing masks, a demand Republicans have resisted.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union reported that TSA had provided lists of airport travelers to ICE, a departure from previous TSA practices.