- Shortage of TSA personnel disrupts major airport travel.
- ICE agents who are not specifically trained for TSA duties.
- The Democrat calls Trump’s ICE airport plan reckless.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport security.
Transportation Security Administration staff are set to miss another full paycheck on March 27 amid a partial government shutdown in its 36th day as lawmakers clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of TSA and ICE.
TSA officers have been sickened as paychecks have dried up and the lack of security agents has disrupted travel at major airports. More than 400 TSA workers have resigned since the partial shutdown began on Feb. 14, NBC News reported Saturday, citing DHS.
“I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE agents to the airports where they will perform security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
In a subsequent post, Trump said the deployment would begin Monday “if Democrats do not allow fair and proper security at our airports and elsewhere across our country.”
TSA has about 65,000 employees, including 50,000 airport security officers.
ICE, central to the Trump administration’s immigration response
ICE agents are not specifically trained for airport security, which is the domain of the TSA. ICE has played a central role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and has drawn criticism from many Democrats, civil liberties and immigration advocates.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, criticized Trump’s proposal as “another reckless, lawless threat to abuse ICE agents.”
“He seems to have no idea what the limits of ICE are, and I think America would be absolutely appalled to see ICE agents roaming through airports like they’ve broken down doors in homes,” Blumenthal told reporters in Washington.
Homeland Security has historically shifted resources across agencies during emergency staffing shortages, said Stewart Baker, who was a DHS policy official in President George W. Bush’s administration. Keeping the TSA running without paying staff creates “serious problems” for the agency, Baker said.
Using ICE agents for airport security “may be slower than using trained people, but it would be better than having none,” he added.
ICE, along with Customs and Border Protection, has deployed agents over the past few months to several areas as part of the crackdown, most recently to Minnesota in an operation that resulted in agents fatally shooting U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Their deaths sparked a backlash and prompted the Trump administration to adopt a more targeted approach in Minnesota.
Trump this month fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid growing criticism of the administration’s immigration tactics. The US Senate is considering the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, as the next DHS secretary.
Trump has said his immigration policies are aimed at curbing illegal immigration and improving national security.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union said the TSA had provided lists of airport travelers to ICE, calling the move a break from TSA’s past practices.
