Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s immigration advisor, confirmed to the American television that starting from Monday, March 23, ICE agents, the now famous immigration police force (ICE), will be deployed in some American airports to carry out security checks. They will provide support to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, who are facing a severe staff shortage due to a partial budget paralysis.
Since February 14, the funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, has been frozen due to a deep disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over immigration police practices, highly contested by the left. Because of this partial shutdown, thousands of federal employees have been furloughed, with some essential workers still continuing to work without pay.
This situation has led to an average absenteeism rate of 10% at airports, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who blamed the Democrats for the situation. Duffy further specified that this rate rises to 30 to 40% in some places, causing long waiting lines during the typically busy period for airports due to spring break and university holidays. He warned that the situation would worsen as more TSA agents “resign or fail to show up to work” in order to “seek other employment to buy food and pay their rent.”
Donald Trump announced on Saturday his intention to send ICE agents to supplement the workforce. Tom Homan confirmed that an unspecified number of immigration police agents would be deployed on Monday, giving priority to major airports with the longest waiting lines of up to three hours. He stated that deployment details were still being worked out with ICE and TSA officials.
According to Tom Homan, the goal is for the officers to handle simple security tasks, such as monitoring exit doors, so that TSA agents can focus on specialized screening posts. “I don’t see an ICE agent overseeing an X-ray scanner, because they haven’t been trained for that,” he noted.
