President Donald Trump has said he will send federal immigration agents to US airports starting Monday, escalating a political confrontation over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In a series of social media posts, Trump said officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be tasked with enforcing security measures at airports, including “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country”.

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He warned that the move would go ahead unless Democrats agreed to what he described as “proper security” measures, urging immigration agents to “get ready”.

Shutdown dispute intensifies

The announcement comes as a partial shutdown of DHS continues, following a deadlock in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats over funding. Lawmakers have failed to reach agreement on legislation that would finance both airport security operations and immigration enforcement.

A key point of contention has been whether funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should be linked to additional resources for ICE.

Democrats have pushed for a stand-alone bill to fund TSA, warning that airport security staff have gone unpaid for weeks, leading to staff shortages and long queues at airports. Republicans, however, have insisted on combining funding measures with broader immigration provisions.

Political blame game

Senior Democrats accused Republicans of using TSA workers as leverage to secure expanded immigration enforcement powers. Senator Patty Murray said it was “plain wrong” that airport security officers were not being paid while negotiations continued.

Republicans, in turn, blamed Democrats for the disruption. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the situation at airports was deteriorating because of the opposition’s refusal to back DHS funding proposals.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticised Republicans for tying funding to immigration policies, calling the situation unacceptable for both workers and travellers.

Operational impact grows

The ongoing shutdown has already affected airport operations nationwide, with TSA officers calling in sick in large numbers due to missed pay. This has resulted in longer waiting times and increased pressure on airport security systems.

ICE, which received separate funding last year, has not been directly impacted by the shutdown, allowing the agency to continue its operations.

Negotiations to resolve the impasse are ongoing, with bipartisan talks expected to resume. However, Trump’s proposed deployment of immigration agents signals a further escalation in the dispute, raising questions about how airport security responsibilities could shift if no agreement is reached.

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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 22 March 2026

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He can’t use ICE agents to replace TSA for International flights.

They aren’t correctly certified or trained.

No other countries airports would be allowed to accept planes from the USA.

ICAO rules.

In addition to those squat over a mirror and anal probes "to combat terrorism" at US airports, we'll now have to run a guantlet of masked goons with no nametags.

I'm glad ICE is out-of-business for the moment, allowing protests to reorganise. I hope they won't get back pay, either. It's a welcome respite.

I sure won't be flying into the Land of the Free anytime in the foreseeable future.

Hopefully ICE will stop americans traveling to other countries. americans are the worst.

I'm glad that the Democrats are prioritizing non-citizens over citizens. Their policies need to create pain for citizens to protect non-citizens from deportation.

5 minutes ago, 1tooth said:

Hopefully ICE will stop americans traveling to other countries. americans are the worst.

Your country should educate you on proper capitalization of words. You write like MAGA.

3 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

In addition to those squat over a mirror and anal probes "to combat terrorism" at US airports, we'll now have to run a guantlet of masked goons with no nametags.

I’m sure you agree that the anal probe makes the entire experience worthwhile.

So there is no doubt any longer, ICE are Trump's Gestapo. That's clear. All other kinds of LE step aside.

12 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

So there is no doubt any longer, ICE are Trump's Gestapo. That's clear. All other kinds of LE step aside.

They are worse than the Gestapo. They resemble the Narodny komissariat gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti multiplied by the Stasi to the power of the Securitate. The entire country lives in fear of ICE.

Dems have a issue funding DHS as a whole, the TSA, Fema. Coast guard etc. Many TSA aren't showing up for work,as they are forced to find jobs to support families.

Ice mission is to protect the homeland , airports are in the homeland. Their job is handling exits, entrances,and non screening duties. I'd like to see the TSA screeners get payed by the lefts/Dem's other boogiman Elon Musk ,he's offered.

Trump says ICE will deploy to airports Monday to assist TSA amid funding standoff

"On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. The great Tom Homan is in charge!" he added.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-ice-deploy-airports-monday-assist-tsa-amid-funding-standoff

5 hours ago, nick supreme said:

I’m sure you agree that the anal probe makes the entire experience worthwhile.

They never splurge for Vaseline!

11 minutes ago, riclag said:

Dems have a issue funding DHS as a whole, the TSA, Fema. Coast guard etc. Many TSA aren't showing up for work,as they are forced to find jobs to support families.

Ice mission is to protect the homeland , airports are in the homeland. Their job is handling exits, entrances,and non screening duties. I'd like to see the TSA screeners get payed by the lefts/Dem's other boogiman Elon Musk ,he's offered.

Trump says ICE will deploy to airports Monday to assist TSA amid funding standoff

"On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. The great Tom Homan is in charge!" he added.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-ice-deploy-airports-monday-assist-tsa-amid-funding-standoff

The day Leon reaches into his own pocket to pay for anything, is the day I'll buy my ticket on his starship. Get my ashes shot into space like Timothy Leary.

International tourism to usa already going down down down....lets put a bunch of masked untrained overpaid redneck maga thugs at the airport to harass the crap out of passengers and maybe kill a few of them and see how that works out for tourism or business travel numbers.

Maybe Donald should ask his billionaire buddies to pony up to pay TSA ....just threaten them with investigations or more regulations and the money will flow like water...problem is it will go into trumps pockets and not to TSA.

Just now, pomchop said:

International tourism to usa already going down down down....lets put a bunch of masked untrained overpaid redneck maga thugs at the airport to harass the crap out of passengers and maybe kill a few of them and see how that works out for tourism or business travel numbers.

Maybe Donald should ask/extort his billionaire buddies to pony up to pay TSA ....just threaten them with investigations or more regulations and the money will flow like water...problem is it will go into trumps pockets and not to TSA.

13 hours ago, nick supreme said:

Your country should educate you on proper capitalization of words. You write like MAGA.

It's capitaliSation.

8 hours ago, riclag said:

Dems have a issue funding DHS as a whole, the TSA, Fema. Coast guard etc. Many TSA aren't showing up for work,as they are forced to find jobs to support families.

Ice mission is to protect the homeland , airports are in the homeland. Their job is handling exits, entrances,and non screening duties. I'd like to see the TSA screeners get payed by the lefts/Dem's other boogiman Elon Musk ,he's offered.

Trump says ICE will deploy to airports Monday to assist TSA amid funding standoff

"On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. The great Tom Homan is in charge!" he added.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-ice-deploy-airports-monday-assist-tsa-amid-funding-standoff

As usual more nonsense the dems want ICE to follow the law and be identifiable just like EACH and EVERY police department in the USA + Donald needs to drop his condition of an illegal pole tax in his attempt to suppress voter turnout no more no less.they aren’t even trained for the job but hey cheer up trumps fiasco is certainly weakening air safety as his war boosts the desire for the enemy to get revenge……some times I think that’s exactly what trump wants.

Put a bunch of masked thugs, who have proven that they operate with flagrant disregard for the law and indeed seem to lack any training in it in charge of airport security; and then emphasise that their role will also include identifying and arresting illegal immigrants...

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Trump can't take the country and his popularity much lower, it is now payback time to the country and its population. He only has self interest. Thanks MAGA for "F" the country with your appointed messiah. Did he make your lfe better?

It's likely that the ICE agents are some of the least qualified law enforcement officials America has ever seen, so they're probably way under qualified to do this kind of work.

Plus I'm not sure how comfortable they're going to be taking off their masks, and it's going to be a real burden for them to be told not to shoot passengers in major US airports.

Lastly I'm not sure how passengers are going to feel being screened by domestic terrorists.

21 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

He can’t use ICE agents to replace TSA for International flights.

They aren’t correctly certified or trained.

No other countries airports would be allowed to accept planes from the USA.

ICAO rules.

ICAO rules, like USA law will be ignored by trump. Then the correct resulting backlash. I support as I would like to see a boycott of travel to the USA until/unless trump and his ilk are removed. The international community banning entries of US citizens processed by ICE would only benefit my wanting to see trump removed ...

What illegal aliens are arriving by air? You must have a passport and visa to even board the plane.

Pray tell, will they be masked, be armed, have body cameras? Shoot people resisting? Arrest American citizens in a continuation of their policies actions in the USA thus far?

You yanks voted in this madman !! you reap what you so !!! no sympathy

9 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

Trump can't take the country and his popularity much lower, it is now payback time to the country and its population. He only has self interest. Thanks MAGA for "F" the country with your appointed messiah. Did he make your lfe better?

Trump is a result of years of Systemic Progressivism , Obama /Biden, Biden /Harris.

The thing most international leftist don't understand is he wasn't appointed he won by a landslide.

Never in the history of politics has a dem /leftist party ever shown such hostility to a democratically elected POTUS,before,during and after his 45 & 47 wins.

Ice immigration enforcement was a a democratic bipartisan response in 2002 to everything from yesteryear being repeated again in real time today, Terrorism.

On 3/22/2026 at 1:22 PM, JBChiangRai said:

He can’t use ICE agents to replace TSA for International flights.

They aren’t correctly certified or trained.

No other countries airports would be allowed to accept planes from the USA.

ICAO rules.

ICE agents ARE being used for security and it frees up TSA to assist in screening it's already reported (even from cnn) that lines have been drastically reduced Another great move !

36 minutes ago, Luuk Chaai said:

Another great move !

You mean trump comes up with a solution after having created a problem.

His ICE agents need to be supervised by someone trained in Aviation Security.

Foreign airports may not accept flights otherwise, it's down to each destination country to decide. They are most likely to send them out and recheck them in at transit points.

Who want's to go to america in the first place ? Nothing to do with Trump, but with all the crime all over, really not me cup of tea. London suburbs are no better, I agree, just as some areas of Paris as well or in Italy.

Get used to it America. The presence of armed "Federal Agents" at just about every aspect of public activity is becoming the established norm. Just as The Third Reich had the SA overseeing everything during the early years of the regime, so you have ICE. Equally opaque recruitment processes, training standards snd command and control, vague and unspecified duties, but a presence.

What will be the next major feature of public life? Oh yes, the midterms! No doubt there will be a need for their presence to ensure "security and law enforcement".