Trump said he would direct ICE officials to detain everyone who has entered the country illegally (Image: Getty Images)
Donald Trump announced on Sunday that ICE personnel will be deployed to airports to assist in clearing the appalling screening queues for the TSA, which ran out of funding more than a month ago owing to a partial government shutdown.
The measure is designed to speed up security queues, which have stretched to three hours at certain airports as TSA agents call in sick or resign since they haven’t received their wages in weeks. It follows US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s warning that another wave of resignations may occur on Thursday or Friday, and « it’ll get much » worse at TSA queues.
« 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, » Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president stated in remarks delivered the previous day that he would also direct ICE officials to detain everyone who has entered the country illegally, including the UK but particularly those from Somalia, a nation he has repeatedly condemned. Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed the plans during an appearance on CNN Sunday, saying « I’m currently working on the plan. We’ll execute tomorrow. » When questioned on whether ICE agents are equipped to manage airport security, Homan ambiguously replied « ICE agents receive high-level training. »
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It remains uncertain whether the remit of ICE officers would encompass immigration enforcement at airports to process UK or other travellers or if they will simply be assisting TSA officials with their designated duties during the Monday deployment.
« More than 50,000 TSA employees have worked without pay for over five weeks. Hundreds have quit. And Washington’s answer isn’t to pay them. It’s to send ICE agents to do their jobs, » stated Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the exclusive union representative of TSA officers.
« ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security.
« TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints – skills that require specialised instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that.
Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at San Francisco International Airport (Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Airport immigration control is predominantly supervised by Customs and Border Protection officers.
Due to the ongoing government shutdown, approximately 50,000 TSA airport security personnel have been compelled to work unpaid for the past month.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both TSA and ICE, was forced to close when Democrats declined to approve funding until DHS altered its immigration enforcement methods following the fatal crackdown in Minnesota.
Masked federal agents wearing a Police ICE jacket, stand in a hallway at the New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Republican lawmakers have rejected Democrats’ proposals to greenlight funds solely for DHS’s non-immigration enforcement departments, such as TSA.
Queue times at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey ranged from five minutes to over 30 minutes in particular terminals.
At Philadelphia International Airport at 6 a.m., the queue stretched back to the Marriott hotel located beyond the security checkpoints. « I have never seen a line this long in Philly, » Reuters reporter Jarrett Renshaw wrote on X.
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