Amid the ongoing partial U.S. government shutdown, social media is dominated by images of airports in chaos. Security lines are stretching into airport parking garages. Wait times are hours long. More and more travelers are outright missing their flights due to the delays.
On paper, the solution is clear: restore funding to the TSA to get agents paid again and back into airports. But President Donald Trump had a different idea that’s gone into effect as of Monday: send ICE agents into airports instead.
The partial shutdown began when the Department of Homeland Security’s funding lapsed on February 14, with Democrats refusing to fund the department without reform to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, in the wake of the fatal shootings by ICE agents of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. With both ICE and the TSA falling under the DHS, funding for the latter was halted, causing a shortage of TSA workers and inciting the major delays now impacting travelers nationwide.
Democrats have since advanced several motions to fund the TSA without letting ICE go unreformed, but Republicans have blocked them every time.
Trump revealed his proposed solution via a Truth Social post on Sunday, March 22.
“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,” he wrote.
Now, as ICE agents begin working at 13 major airports across America, social media is sounding off, from politicians to everyday citizens concerned about ICE’s role in airport security.
Growing tensions in Congress
Democratic lawmakers are expressing frustration that their efforts to fund the TSA have been blocked by Senate Republicans, who have been urged by Trump not to budge until Democrats agree to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The controversial act would require proof of citizenship to vote and largely eliminate voting by mail.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has spearheaded attempts to get funding back to the TSA, gave his fellow congresspeople a suggestion: “Instead of sending ICE agents to harass travelers at airports, why don’t Republicans get their act together and agree to pay TSA workers like we’ve asked them to SEVEN TIMES now?” he posted on X.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) echoed Schumer’s sentiment, claiming that Trump’s deployment of ICE exemplifies why the shutdown began in the first place.
“Deploying ICE agents— whose lawlessness and racial profiling have put us all at risk— to the airports is another disaster waiting to happen,” Ramirez wrote. “Republicans need to fund TSA and other essential functions. We must abolish Trump’s terror force, ICE, and dismantle DHS.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also chimed in, saying the situation shows exactly why ICE needs to be reformed. “By sending ICE into airports, Trump is proving the problem in real time: ICE has become the president’s lawless, under-trained, personal police force, deployed to serve his agenda — not the law,” Newsom wrote.
Online uproar continues
While politicians are providing more measured responses, other folks on social media aren’t mincing their words.
Many questioned exactly what function ICE would even serve in place of TSA agents, who go through weeks-long training programs prior to working in airports.
One user pointed out the irony of adding ICE to an already fraught situation: “Long lines, chaos, and stress at the airport. Time to send in renowned de-escalation experts, ICE,” they wrote.
White House border czar Tom Homan, who Trump appointed to lead the operation, spoke to the specific role ICE agents would play in airports on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Homan explained that while a specific plan for ICE to assist the TSA was still in the works, he didn’t expect ICE agents to take over more technical duties like manning X-ray machines. Instead, they’ll be handling basic security to free up TSA agents to complete those specialized tasks.
“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,” Homan said. “We’re just simply helping our fellow officers at TSA.”
But Homan’s assurances that ICE will stay in its lane aren’t comforting travelers, given the agency’s history with violence. “A bunch of overly aggressive ICE agents at major airports with already frustrated travelers — what could go wrong?” one user wondered.
“Nothing makes me feel safer at an airport than seeing masked people with guns,” quipped another.
Another user claimed that ICE agents’ presence could also tank the airline industry. “The average travelers will be far more reluctant to fly if they’ll be met with an armed militia instead of trained security personnel,” they wrote.
And of course, there’s the elephant in the room: If airports are in disarray because TSA officers aren’t being paid, why is the government paying ICE agents to replace them rather than finding a way to restore TSA officers’ wages? As one user framed it in a viral post, “How is there money for ICE to run TSA, but not money for TSA to run TSA?”
With ICE agents only assuming their new role at airports as of Monday morning, the operation’s full impact remains to be seen. Whether it leads to shorter wait times as promised, or merely an even tenser (and potentially dangerous) environment for travelers, Trump’s solution may create far more problems than it purports to solve.