What could the role of ICE be at airports?

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🗓️ 24 March 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

Airline travelers across the U.S. have been experiencing long wait times because of the partial government shutdown. TSA workers are calling off sick or quitting altogether because they haven’t been paid. Now, ICE agents have been deployed to some airports to mitigate wait times. What role could the agency play as officials in Washington continue to spar over government funding? And what could the next few weeks look like for travelers? A former TSA security chief weighs in.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Long lines, frustrated passengers, missed flights.
0:03.8	That has been the reality this week for thousands of travelers across the country as a partial government shutdown stretches into its sixth week.
0:11.3	I just missed my flight by two minutes.
0:13.6	Ariana Balsito was trying to fly from Houston to Charlotte for a second day on Monday.
0:18.3	She told Houston Public Media that the day before, she had waited in line
0:21.9	for three hours. I had a book of a fight for $300. And yeah, I got here five hours early,
0:28.0	thinking it was not going to, like it was going to look like what it did yesterday. It looks way
0:30.9	worse than what it did yesterday. During the shutdown, agents at the Transportation
0:34.3	Security Administration have been working without pay. At the same time,
0:38.5	thousands have called out of work. Hundreds have quit. Well, some of them are needing money,
0:44.6	you know, because the Democrats cut off their money. I blame the Democrats more than anything else.
0:49.4	President Trump sent immigration and customs enforcement officers to certain airports to help. So far, though,
0:55.6	the responsibilities and contributions of the deployed agents have been unclear. And on Capitol Hill,
1:01.2	there has been a back and forth between Republicans and Democrats for a plan to fund the TSA,
1:05.6	but still no concrete proposal. Consider this. Both TSA and ICE fall under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security,
1:14.5	but the two agencies have different responsibilities.
1:17.6	What impact, if any, will deploying ICE agents to airports have,
1:21.1	and what can travelers expect as Washington continues to spar over a funding deal?
1:29.1	From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.
1:35.1	It's consider this from NPR.
1:43.4	TSA agents have been working more than a month now without pay due to an ongoing standoff over homeland security funding. Democrats in Congress are refusing to fund the department unless the Trump administration agrees to changes over how ICE operates. In the meantime, many TSA agents are calling in sick or quitting rather than keep working without pay.
2:02.7	And now, ICE agents have been deployed to some airports across the country to assist the TSA.
	...

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