Democrats and other observers have decried sending U.S. immigration officials to airports as dangerous and a source of tension.
Published March 23, 2026
Immigration agents have begun deploying to some U.S. airports as federal funding battles cause long delays and staffing problems at airports across the country.
Reuters reported on Monday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it had begun deploying hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to help secure airports facing significant staffing issues.
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Officials told Reuters that ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents were being dispatched to more than a dozen airports across the country, including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
CNN also reported that at least four ICE agents were seen at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, outside New York.
The deployment comes as congestion at U.S. airport security checkpoints has soared due to weeks of budget conflicts over President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.
Some DHS funding has expired since February 14 as Democratic lawmakers demand reforms in the wake of President Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
One DHS agency whose funding has been cut is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which handles airport security screening, and whose employees will be working without pay for weeks.
DHS says many TSA employees have begun calling in from work, and more than 300 employees have quit since the shutdown began.
President Trump told reporters on Monday that he has asked ICE agents dispatched to U.S. airports to remove their masks. “I don’t like that for the airport, but I believe they are going to do it,” he said.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Tom Homan said Sunday that ICE officers assist TSA officers in areas that don’t require special training or expertise.
“We’re just going to help TSA do its work in areas where our expertise is needed, while adhering to all security guidelines and protocols,” Homan said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union program.
“There’s a role we can play in relieving TSA officers from non-essential roles like exit security and moving people back to screening machines faster.”
But Democrats and other observers have expressed serious concerns about the presence of ICE agents at airports, saying the deployment will heighten tensions.
“The last thing Americans want is to have untrained ICE agents stationed at airports across the country,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN on Sunday.
“We have already seen how ICE operates. These are people who are, for the most part, untrained in doing their current job, let alone putting them in close exposure and highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.”
Even some members of President Trump’s own Republican Party have expressed opposition to the new airport security plan, with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski calling it a “bad idea.”
“What we need to do is we need to fix the problems at DHS. We need to get TSA employees paid,” Murkowski told reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where the Senate was in an unusual session over the weekend. “Do you really want to add more tension to the situation we are already facing?”
Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 TSA employees, also condemned Trump’s plan.
“TSA officers come to work every day without pay because they believe in our mission to keep the flying public safe,” Kelly said Sunday.
“They should be paid and not replaced by untrained armed agents who have shown how dangerous they are.”
