Agents from U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement will be assigned to 13 U.S. airports to assist Transportation Security Administration agents.
TSA workers have been staffing airports without pay since Democrats imposed a freeze on Department of Homeland Security funding. Long lines that have caused snarls at major airports have been the result. The ICE deployments were expected to begin Monday.
The list includes: Chicago-O’Hare International Airport; Cleveland Hopkins International Airport; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; William P. Hobby Airport in Houston; John F. Kennedy International Airport; LaGuardia Airport; Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport; Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan Puerto Rico; Newark Liberty International Airport; Philadelphia International Airport; Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; Pittsburgh International Airport; and Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Florida, according to CNN.
JUST IN: Thirteen airports are expected to receive ICE agents to assist in operations.
Those airports include:
-ORD (Illinois)
-CLE (Ohio)
-ATL (Georgia)
-HOU (Texas)
-JFK (New York)
-LGA (New York)
-MSY (Louisiana)
-SJU (Puerto Rico)
-EWR (New Jersey)
-PHL (Pennsylvania)
-PHX…— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 23, 2026
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy indicated that ICE agents could play a broader role than do TSA agents, according to CNN.
“They run those same type of security machines at the southern border, right? Packages come through or people come through,” Duffy said
“We have ICE agents who are trained and can provide assistance to agents,” Duffy said.
You’re a moron, Dick. https://t.co/JhtuGoDXZD
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 22, 2026
Border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents will be at the airports “to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine. Not trained in that? We won’t do that.”
“But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker,” he said.
.@POTUS on the Democrat shutdown of @DHSgov: This is all caused by the Democrats. Just so you know, all of this money was approved. Everything was approved. The Democrats want to have drug dealers, murderers, and open borders. That’s what this is all about. pic.twitter.com/jYv9prsG4f
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 23, 2026
Acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis of the Department of Homeland Security said the root of the issue was the “pointless, reckless shutdown,” imposed by congressional Democrats and that President Donald Trump is “using every tool available” to help travelers facing long airport lines, according to the New Jersey Herald.
“While the Democrats continue to put the safety, dependability, and ease of our air travel at risk, President Trump is taking action to deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted,” Bis said.
Thank a Democrat. https://t.co/9e0fMH2s3y
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 23, 2026
Trump announced the plan in a weekend Truth Social post.
“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota,” he wrote.
“I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” he wrote.
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