US President Donald Trump has announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be drafted into airports to boost security staff numbers amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.
Airport screening has been hit by staff shortages since the start of the current budget impasse affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), resulting in long queues and extended wait times for travellers.
Announcing the move, Trump posted on Truth Social on 21 March 2026: “On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job.”
On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding…
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) March 22, 2026
Border czar Tom Homan has been tasked with working out the details of the plan. He told CNN, that the decision would help “TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols.”
Similarly, a DHS spokesperson described the staffing redeployment as evidence that the president “is using every tool available” to resolve the issues being faced at US transport hubs. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy insisted that certain ICE staff are accustomed to the tasks and equipment used by airport security agents, since they operate “”same type of security machines at the southern border” and “are trained and can provide assistance.”
@diiamonnd1 ICE have arrived at atl airport!!! #fyp #ice #atlanta #airport ♬ original sound – diiamonnd1
One of the first airports that would receive a contingent of ICE agents was named as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where they were expected to assist with crowd control and TSA operations, according to a DHS official and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
NOW: ICE Agents seen running from Photographers and patrolling at JFK Airport in NYC as massive TSA Security lines continue at US Airports
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 23, 2026
Video by Diego Luzuriaga | Licensing @FreedomNTV Desk@freedomnews.tv pic.twitter.com/2bjBmKVrZm
But Democrats have expressed concerns about bringing ICE into the country’s hubs, in the wake of civilian arrests and shootings by ICE officers that have prompted civil rights complaints. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ICE working in airports is “the last thing that the American people need” because they “are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job that they have, for the most part – let alone deploying them in close exposure and highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.”
Unions representing TSA workers, for whom the expectation to continue working without pay during government shutdowns creates significant financial hardship, pointed to the potential safety implications of bringing unqualified staff into airports. Everett Kelley, President of the American Federation of Government Employees responded to Trump’s announcement with a statement that: “Replacing unpaid TSA workers with ICE agents is not a solution, but a dangerous escalation.”
