- Trump threatens deploying ICE agents to airports amid DHS shutdown.
- TSA staff shortages cause long security lines and operational strain.
- Lawmakers question ICE role due to lack of screening training.
- Negotiations continue as shutdown enters fifth week without resolution.
President Donald Trump issued a Saturday afternoon ultimatum threatening to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports beginning Monday if Congress fails to reach a deal funding the Department of Homeland Security, whose five-week shutdown has left TSA officers working without pay and produced mounting security line delays across the country.
The threat drew immediate confusion from both parties about what ICE agents trained in immigration enforcement, not airport security screening would actually do at checkpoint lanes. TSA screeners undergo monthslong training before they can conduct security screening. ICE agents have no equivalent qualification.
CNN noted the agents could potentially assist in more limited roles such as managing lines, directing passengers or guarding exit doors, freeing trained TSA officers for critical screening functions. In an earlier post, Trump suggested ICE agents would also conduct "the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia" a formulation that drew sharp legal pushback from Democratic senators.
A Day of Escalating Pressure
Saturday was the most chaotic day yet in the five-week shutdown standoff. Earlier in the morning, Elon Musk offered on X to personally cover the salaries of all TSA personnel, saying the impasse was "negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans."
Hours later Trump issued the ICE ultimatum. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a bipartisan group of senators and White House border czar Tom Homan would meet again Saturday, describing a Friday session as "productive" and confirming the White House had submitted a new proposal to Democrats.
Republican Senator John Kennedy said sending ICE to airports "could help" if used for crowd control rather than screening, but acknowledged it was "supportive but not dispositive." Senate Majority Leader Thune said he hoped a deal would be reached so the ICE deployment "ideally" would not be necessary. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia dismissed Trump's word as "worthless" and called the threat "one more reason why we've got to get TSA funded."
The DHS shutdown, which began on February 14 after Democrats refused to fund the agency without immigration enforcement reforms following the Minneapolis shootings, has now seen 366 TSA officers quit, callout rates hit 55 percent at some airports, and three-hour security queues reported during peak Spring Break travel. Negotiations remain unresolved.
