WASHINGTON – In a bid to alleviate lengthy security lines at U.S. airports, President Donald Trump has directed federal immigration agents to assist with airport operations. This move comes amid a funding stalemate that has left air travelers enduring long waits and security personnel without pay.
On Sunday, Trump reiterated his commitment to deploying immigration officers at airports, following his statement on Saturday that this measure would be implemented unless Democrats reached an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security. This initiative aims to support the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in managing airport security.
As a result of Congress’s failure to renew funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last month, hundreds of thousands of DHS employees, including those from the TSA, U.S. Secret Service, and Coast Guard, have been working without pay. Democrats insist on significant reform in the operations of federal immigration agents and remain steadfast in their demands.
Leading the effort is White House border czar Tom Homan, who has been engaging with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown. While Homan described these meetings as “good conversations,” he acknowledged that a consensus has yet to be reached.
The Senate, in an unusual weekend session, was expected to move forward with the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as the next Secretary of Homeland Security. A confirmation vote could occur as soon as late Monday, with Mullin advocating for a more stable leadership following Kristi Noem’s turbulent tenure as Trump’s first DHS secretary.
In interviews on Sunday news programs, Homan indicated that the specific roles and numbers of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers at airports are still under discussion with TSA and ICE leadership to determine where they can best contribute.
He pledged to have “a plan by the end of today, where we’re sending — what airports we’re starting with and where we’re sending them. … So it’s a work in progress.” The priority, Homan said, was “the large airports where there’s a long wait, like three hours.”
Immigration officers, as an example, could cover exits currently monitored by TSA agents, freeing them to work screening lines.
“ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already. They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigation on smuggling at airports,” Homan said, adding that “certainly, a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit and makes sure people don’t go through those exits, entering the airport through the exits. And stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines.”
Another option, he said, was having ICE agents check identification before people enter screenings areas.
“We’re going to be a force multiplier,” Homan said.
While saying to help “wherever we can provide extra security,” Homan said there were limits. “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we’re not trained in that,” he said.
Trump said in a social media post that on Monday, “ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job” despite the partial government shutdown. He further criticized Democrats.
Travelers at some airports worried about reaching their gates Sunday.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, lines wrapped from one end of the airport to the other.
“Everyone just seems to be accepting it for what it is, said 43-year-old Blake Wilbanks, who showed up 2 1/2 hours early for his morning flight to Salt Lake City after reading about the shutdown.
“Hopeful I’m gonna make it,” he said as he waited in a winding security line.
The scene appeared more chaotic at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Large big crowds of anxious travelers piled toward security checkpoints, and TSA staff shouted through megaphones to tell people not to push one another.
For Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, one concern is the uncertainty that passengers are facing over possible wait times at any airport on any given day.
“Do I have to come an hour and a half early? Do I have to come four hours early? They don’t know until the day of or the afternoon of their flight,” he said. “So if we can alleviate that, again, the president wants to take away that leverage point for Democrats and make travel easier for the American people.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said “the last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country” after criticism about their conduct as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Homan appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and “Fox News Sunday,” while Duffy was interviewed on ABC’s “This Week” and Jeffries spoke on CNN.
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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in West Palm Beach, Fla., Anthony Izaguirre in Lindenhurst, N.Y., Yuki Iwamura in New York and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
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