TSA official criticizes ICE presence amid airport chaos
TSA officials say staffing shortages are accelerating delays at airports during the partial government shutdown, and ICE agents are causing confusion.
White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent across the country to support the Transportation Security Administration amid staffing shortages may remain on the job for a while longer.
TSA employees are expected to receive pay later this week after more than a month without pay due to the partial government shutdown. Homan appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on March 29 and said the pressure on the security lines may ease somewhat. He also said whether ICE agents leave airports will depend on how many TSA agents return to work.
“God bless the men and women of ICE as I work closely with the TSA administrator and the ICE director to determine what needs to happen at which airports,” Homan said. “They are plugging those holes and keeping airport security at a high level.”
President Donald Trump sent ICE agents to airports across the U.S. on March 23 to reduce wait times amid a shortage of TSA personnel and a partial government shutdown. Loren Biss, acting assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed late on March 25 that “ICE officers go through a standard TSA training curriculum and then perform entrance/exit security, logistics support, crowd control, and identity verification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures.”
ICE is “closing security holes,” Homan says.
Although the president has said ICE has made a “huge change,” USA TODAY previously reported that police officers were not seen primarily assisting airline travelers while they waited in long lines at airports. Homan told CNN that lines have decreased in all locations where ICE officers have been sent to “protect exit lanes, perform identification checks, (and) close security holes.”
“ICE officers are not going to look at X-ray images and decide which bags need secondary handling. This is advanced training,” Homan said. “But we can check their ID before they get to that machine, and we can cover the exit so people don’t come in through the exit. This takes the TSA officer out of the security line and puts him on top of the X-ray machine. We’re closing other security holes. We want to keep our airports safe, so we’re doing the job that TSA is asking us to do so that the TSA officer can get back to the main inspection.”
Homan’s comments came two days after President Trump pledged to pay TSA employees and signed an order directing funds toward their salaries. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin will begin the process of paying TSA employees as soon as President Trump signs the memo, and Homan told CNN on March 29 that TSA employees could be paid “hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday.”
Still, the larger DHS remains underfunded as Congress continues to struggle to build bipartisan agreement. The House passed a stopgap funding bill for the agency on March 27, with a near party-line vote of 213-203. The bill is already “dysfunctional” without Democratic support, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared earlier in the day. That means the bill’s chances of becoming law are virtually zero because there aren’t enough votes to pass it in the Senate.
Additionally, the planned break means the partial shutdown could last until mid-April, with a two-week parliamentary recess for Easter and Passover beginning on March 27. Both the House and Senate are not scheduled to resume until April 13, except for a temporary session, a short session in which no business is normally conducted.
Contributors: USA TODAY’s Nathan Diller, Zachary Schermele and Jeanine Santucci.
Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or X @katecperez_.
