Trump Says ICE Will Make Arrests at Airports, Even as Officials Insist Deployment Is Only for Crowd Control
Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are being sent to 14 airports, which federal officials have not publicly identified, as the Transportation Security Administration’s staffing problems grow more severe under the Department of Homeland Security funding standoff. ICE deployment is expected to begin Monday and is aimed at helping with crowd control and security line management, not formal passenger screening.
2026-03-23 20:10:16 - VI News Staff
The move comes after TSA absences climbed to their highest point since the partial shutdown began five weeks earlier. More than one-third of TSA staff were absent at airports in Houston, New York and Atlanta over the weekend, while nationwide absences over the previous seven days topped 9%. A Reuters report on March 19 said the national absence rate had already reached 10.2%, with JFK and San Juan at 25% and Atlanta and Houston Bush at 38%.
TSA workers have been left unpaid because the broader DHS funding bill remains stuck in a partisan fight: Democrats blocked it while demanding ICE reforms after fatal shootings, Republicans rejected those conditions, and President Donald Trump later told Republicans to withhold any deal unless Democrats also passed a separate voting bill. DHS said the pay interruption has had real-world consequences, with some officers unable to pay rent, buy food or put gas in their cars, leading them to call out sick or leave the agency entirely.
Under the current plan, ICE personnel will not go behind security checkpoints because they do not have the specific clearances needed. Instead they are expected to assist with line flow and crowd management in domestic terminals. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said his office had been informed ICE agents would be sent to Hartsfield-Jackson, and federal officials told him the assignment was “not intended to conduct immigration enforcement activities.”