ICE agents are being sent to US airports on Monday: What to know

Trump: ICE to be deployed to airports amid shutdown

President Trump said he will deploy ICE agents to airports across the United States beginning Monday, as the partial government shutdown has left TSA agents without pay. Resulting staffing shortages continue to cause lengthy security lines at airports nationwide.

President Donald Trump said he plans to deploy immigration enforcement agents to the nation’s airports Monday to help TSA security checkpoints impacted by the partial government shutdown. 

Trump made the announcement on social media Sunday, a day after he threatened to send ICE agents to airports if Democrats didn’t approve a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE and TSA. The Senate failed to pass a funding bill Saturday. 

Here’s the latest: 

Why is Trump sending ICE agents to airports?

What we know:

Trump said ICE agents will be sent to airports starting Monday to help "our wonderful" TSA agents. A partial government shutdown has left TSA agents working without pay for more than a month, prompting long security screening lines at airports where TSA agents have increasingly called in sick. DHS said at least 376 TSA agents have quit since the partial shutdown began Feb. 14.

Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, March 20, 2026. Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Image

Expand

What they're saying:

"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 back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!!! President DJT"

RELATED: Small airports face closure risk amid ongoing TSA staffing shortages

What we don't know:

Trump hasn’t said how ICE will help with airport security, but he did say ICE agents would be arresting "all Illegal Immigrants."

"If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before," Trump said Saturday. 

In an interview with CNN, White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would help support TSA agents, but he also didn't say how. 

"It’s a work in progress, but we will be at airports tomorrow, helping TSA move those lines along," Homan said.

Why is DHS shut down? 

Big picture view:

Democrats have pledged to oppose funding for DHS unless reforms are made in the wake of an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to the fatal shootings of two protesters. 

Democrats are asking for better identification for federal law enforcement officers, a new code of conduct for those agencies and more use of judicial warrants, among other measures.

On Saturday, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to reopen TSA and pay workers who are now going without paychecks. Republicans argue that they need to fund all parts of the DHS, not just certain ones. A bill to fully fund DHS failed to advance in the Senate on Friday.