At LaGuardia Airport, travellers waited in long lines stretching for hours. Houston’s George Bush International saw some of the worst delays, with lines lasting over three hours. The chaos comes from a partial government shutdown that left many TSA agents unpaid and airports struggling to cope.
ICE Agents Deployed to Fill TSA Gaps
With the partial shutdown dragging on past a month, many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have either called in sick or quit shifts, unable to work without pay. The Department of Homeland Security’s pause in funding forced the shutdown, leaving thousands of TSA workers without a paycheck. To ease the mounting pressure, the Trump administration sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to at least 14 major airports, including New York’s JFK, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Houston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
However, the move hasn’t gone smoothly. ICE agents are primarily trained for immigration enforcement — not airport security screening. Airport employees and TSA officers say the ICE presence has generated frustration rather than relief. Some ICE agents patrol terminals and security lines, handing out water bottles or helping lost passengers, but many appear underused or unfamiliar with the customer service focus required at checkpoints.
Hydrick Thomas, president of AFGE Local 2222, which represents New York and New Jersey airport security officers, criticised the deployment. He said, “If you want to bring a tactical force into an environment where it's required to have customer service and a mindset where you know what you're doing, how to identify something that might be suspicious—they don't have that training.” TSA officers worry ICE agents lack the certification to perform many screening duties, limiting their effectiveness in reducing wait times.
Staffing Shortages and Growing Tensions
The shutdown has hit airport workers hard.
Many frontline TSA screeners have missed weeks of paychecks, raising fears about rent, mortgages, childcare, and basic living expenses. Food banks have stepped in at airports from Houston to San Diego to help employees struggling to make ends meet.
In Knoxville, airport authorities have accepted donations for Delta Airlines counter workers.
The absentee rate among TSA officers has surged to more than a third in some metropolitan areas. That’s worsened delays during a peak travel season, sparking frustration among passengers and staff alike. ICE agents, meanwhile, have faced their own challenges. Some travellers and onlookers have surrounded them, taking photos or videos, making it harder for agents to focus on their tasks.
At hearings before the US House Committee on Homeland Security, Acting TSA head Ha Nguyen McNeill explained that ICE agents are being trained to perform travel document checks, a nonspecialized TSA function. That’s a shift from the usual division of labour but necessary amid the staffing crisis.
TSA employees remain uneasy about the setup, especially because ICE agents are still getting paid during the shutdown.
Political Gridlock Worsens Airport Chaos
The partial shutdown began in mid-February after Congress failed to agree on Department of Homeland Security funding. The dispute centred on immigration enforcement policies demanded by Democrats, which President Trump opposed. With no compromise in sight, tens of thousands of DHS employees remain unpaid.
On Thursday, President Trump announced he would bypass Congress to pay TSA workers using funds from last year’s tax cuts bill. The move raised legal questions, but it was welcomed by many TSA employees who have gone without pay for over 40 days. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso praised the president’s decision, blaming Democrats for the stalemate. Yet, some lawmakers like Senator Angus King urged ongoing negotiations to resolve the shutdown fully.
Sending ICE agents to airports was an earlier effort to help TSA staff. But the deployment highlights the challenges of mixing agencies with different training and roles in a high-pressure environment. ICE’s involvement hasn't quelled passenger frustrations, nor has it fully addressed the root problem: a shrinking TSA workforce forced to operate without pay.
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With the shutdown dragging on, airports stay strained, and passengers deal with long waits and unclear security procedures. Using ICE agents as a stopgap raises questions about how prepared officials are and what their priorities really are during this funding crisis.
This article was created with AI assistance.
