Trump sends US immigration agents to airports as shutdown chaos deepens | Migration News

Shutdown standoff forces US President Trump’s hand as airport queues spiral and security staff go unpaid.

Immigration enforcement agents will be deployed across major United States airports from Monday, President Donald Trump has announced, in an extraordinary move to ease a security crisis triggered by a prolonged political standoff in Washington.

Trump confirmed the plan in a social media post on Sunday, with his senior border official Tom Homan named to lead the effort.

This came after weeks of mounting chaos at airport security checkpoints and a day after Trump threatened the move unless Democrats backed down on a funding battle.

The crisis stems from Congress’s failure to renew funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency that oversees airport security.

Since February 14, tens of thousands of workers, including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners responsible for passenger checks, have continued working without receiving paycheques.

More than 366 have since resigned, according to DHS, and unscheduled absences have more than doubled, leaving major airports struggling to cope.

“This loss significantly decreases TSA’s ability to meet passenger demand and leaves critical gaps in staffing, as each new recruit requires 4-6 MONTHS of training,” it said last week in a post on X.

Queues at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and New York’s JFK airports stretched for hours at the weekend, with New Orleans advising passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure.

Union officials say some officers have taken on second jobs, while several airports have begun collecting food and gift cards for staff who can no longer make ends meet.

Homan said agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), trained in law enforcement and immigration, not airport security, would take on supporting roles, such as monitoring exit lanes and checking identification, freeing TSA officers to focus on screening lines.

“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine,” he acknowledged on Sunday, adding that a detailed plan for which airports and how many agents would be finalised by the end of the day.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned the situation was “going to get much worse” before it improves.

At the heart of the standoff is a bitter dispute over immigration enforcement.

Democrats have refused to pass a full DHS funding bill unless the administration agrees to reforms of ICE. Their demands hardened after federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, during immigration raids in Minneapolis in January.

Democrat Senator Dick Durbin said his party had attempted nine times to pass emergency funding for DHS entities including the TSA, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Coast Guard. Republicans have blocked each attempt, insisting on a single comprehensive funding package for the entire department.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries warned bluntly that deploying “untrained ICE agents” at airports risked repeating the conduct that had already cost lives.

In an unusual intervention, billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk said he would “offer to pay” the salaries of TSA workers.