US President Donald Trump has threatened to send agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide security at airports unless a deal is reached to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday.
The DHS has gone without funding since mid-February, after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement, leaving normal airport security without pay.
A bill that would fund DHS and provide payments for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at airports failed to advance in the Senate on Friday.
The Trump administration has blamed the delay on Democrats, who have declined to pass funding without reforms to ICE, which operates under DHS.
The hold-up has meant that thousands of staff for the TSA - which also operates under DHS - have been working without pay for more than a month.
More than 300 TSA employees have reportedly quit during this time, with US media reporting that unscheduled absences have more than doubled.
Long lines have formed at airports, and union officials have reported some officers taking on second jobs. Several airports are collecting gift cards and food parcels for TSA staff.
Numerous employees have reported to me that their bank accounts are at zero or negative, Johnny Jones, a Dallas-based official in the government workers' union AFGE, told USA Today.
He added, No funds for daycare, no funds for food. They just want to know why they can't get paid when we have money to shoot missiles into other countries.
ICE has played a critical role in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, making thousands of arrests since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Its tactics have faced heavy criticism from many Democrats, civil liberties groups, and NGOs.
Trump announced that the deployment of ICE agents would begin on Monday if the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country. However, it's worth noting that ICE agents are not specifically trained for airport security.
ICE has not been significantly affected by the partial government shutdown as Congress separately provided funding for the agency.
Democrats have been demanding reforms to ICE following incidents where federal agents killed two Minneapolis residents during protests against the administration's immigration raids in Minnesota.
The Democrats request that the DHS bar immigration agents from wearing face masks, provide better identification for officers, and tighten rules for obtaining warrants.
