As of March 23, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has been deployed to major U.S airports across the country. As the government shutdown continues, making it the longest in United States history, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, continues to go unpaid. So in response to high wait times, delays at airports, and overall staff shortages, the Trump Administration sent ICE agents to go and assist TSA with security operations.
As of Friday, March 20th 2026, the House Republicans rejected a bipartisan senate deal in order to conclude the government shutdown. This prompted the response from the Trump Administration. The government shutdown is caused by the disagreements over funding, specifically funding regarding ICE. Since the shutdown started, over 500 TSA agents have quit, creating security lines that snake through the terminals and have people waiting hours to get through the check points.
Since ICE has been deployed, the exact objective of their assignment in airports remains relatively unclear. Many people have criticized ICE’s presence at airports as largely unnecessary as videos show the agents standing around and talking amongst themselves. They are not properly trained in TSA services and therefore lack the skills necessary to help the TSA agents. So ICE agents have been training with TSA but as of now continue to do very little at airports to aid the long lines and insane wait times. ICE agents have also been heavily criticized for receiving pay for doing little to no work at airports as TSA agents do the heavy lifting receiving no pay. Donald Trump has also mentioned the possibility of calling in the National Guard to assist TSA and ICE at airports.
The deployment of ICE agents comes at a time where tensions between the people of America and the government run high. People have been taking to the streets in protest of ICE and the current administration in recent months, and the deployment of ICE leads many to think that more public interactions with this agency will lead down a ugly road.
The administration has stated ICE will stay at airports until the government shutdown has been resolved, however as of now there continues to be no developments that suggest a compromise is on the horizon.
