DHS Sends Hundreds of ICE Agents Into More Than a Dozen Airports as the Shutdown Drags On

Beginning March 23, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security deployed hundreds of ICE agents to more than a dozen airports, including JFK, Newark Liberty, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, O'Hare and airports in Houston and Phoenix, after a funding lapse that began February 14 left TSA unable to pay its workforce. More than 300 TSA employees had resigned and thousands were calling out daily. DHS said the agents would guard entrances and exits, assist with logistics, handle crowd control and verify identification. Border czar Tom Homan said agents would also arrest criminals moving through airports and look for human trafficking and money smuggling. ICE was unaffected by the lapse because Congress appropriated it roughly $75 billion separately in 2025.

Placing armed immigration officers with arrest authority at security checkpoints changes what a domestic airport screening line is. UCLA law professor Hiroshi Motomura said ICE is being transformed into a police force operating under more aggressive rules while holding substantial independent funding.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned about untrained ICE agents in airports and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski called the plan a bad idea; the TSA union said its members deserved to be paid, not replaced.