President Donald Trump has revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will start supporting TSA agents at airports nationwide beginning Monday.
This decision comes amid ongoing disputes between Trump and Republicans against Democrats regarding funding for the Department of Homeland Security. TSA workers have gone without pay for over a month while Democrats hold out in hopes of pushing through immigration reform.
Trump expressed on Truth Social, “ICE will be heading to the airport on Monday to support our amazing TSA agents who continue to do their jobs despite the fact that radical left-wing Democrats, whose sole focus is protecting hard-line criminals who entered our country illegally, are putting our country at risk by withholding funds that were agreed upon long ago in signed contracts and more.”
He further added, “But look, no matter how good a job ICE does, the lunatics leading the incompetent Democrats will be very critical of their work. They will do a great job. The great Tom Homan is in charge!”
Earlier on Saturday, Trump had threatened to deploy ICE to airports and pushed for Democrats to “immediately sign a deal” to fund DHS.
TSA employees, deemed essential personnel, must still report to work during the shutdown, albeit with potential delays in their pay. Recent reports indicate a surge in employee absences, with over 400 TSA employees having resigned.
Adding to the conversation, Elon Musk offered to cover the salaries of TSA workers amid the funding deadlock, stating on X, “During this funding gridlock that is negatively impacting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country, I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA employees.”
Major airports are now experiencing considerable delays, with some security wait times exceeding three hours, particularly impacting locations like Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Footage from Thursday morning at Philadelphia showed crowds of travelers waiting to get through security checkpoints.
