Border Czar Tom Homan Says ICE Agents Will Remain at Airports Until Normal Operations Resume

The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown has created a crisis at dozens of airports across the United States. With Transportation Security Administration workers not being paid due to the shutdown, the Trump administration approved the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to help manage hour-long screening lines.

When the deployments were first announced, officers were sent to 14 airports across the country. The move, aimed at easing long security lines caused by a shortage of TSA employees who have stopped showing up to work or quit as a result of the weeks-long partial government shutdown, has created its own problems, as it remains unclear whether agents have the proper training or if they will conduct immigration enforcement duties.

As Democrats and Republicans continue working toward a resolution to fund DHS, White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents will remain at airports until TSA workers are able to return and resume normal operations.

"We're going to continue an ICE presence there, and until the airports feel like they're in 100%, you know, in a posture where they can do normal operations," Homan said in an interview, as reported by NBC News. "So if fewer TSA agents come back, that means we'll keep more ICE agents there."

According to DHS data, approximately 500 TSA workers have quit since the start of the shutdown, while thousands of others have called out of work after going weeks without paychecks.

In a separate interview on March 29, Homan did not give a clear answer when asked whether ICE agents would leave airports once TSA officers return to work, but added he is working closely with TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons to come up with a plan.

Homan added that ICE agents were helping with tasks such as identification checks and protecting exit lanes, contradicting a statement posted by President Donald Trump on March 21 on his Truth Social account, in which he said ICE agents would be handling "security like no one has ever seen before," including the "immediate arrest" of undocumented immigrants.

The current DHS shutdown became, on March 29, the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history, surpassing last year's record, when the federal government went without funding from October to mid-November.

As noted by NBC News, negotiations once again reached a stalemate last week, as Democrats continue demanding specific new rules on immigration enforcement operations before agreeing to any funding for DHS.

The House and Senate are scheduled to be on recess for the next two weeks, which would further delay an end to the shutdown and give ICE agents more time to assist at airports.

While lawmakers from both sides of the aisle work toward a plan to fund DHS, ICE's deployment to airports has already faced heavy criticism. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing TSA workers, said ICE agents are not qualified or trained to carry out the jobs TSA workers do.

"TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that," Kelley said, as reported by NBC News.