ICE agents will begin assisting with security duties at select U.S. airports Monday amid an ongoing partial government shutdown that has sidelined many Transportation Security Administration officers, but there was no immediate indication that any California airports would be involved in the effort.
U.S. border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday the effort was about “helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols.”
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine,” he said. “Not trained in that? We won’t do that. But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.”
Various media outlets reported Monday morning that ICE agents were being deployed to 14 airports across the nation — none of them in California.
Officials at Palm Springs International Airport did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Sunday.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump said he would order ICE agents to assist with airport security if Congress did not immediately reach an agreement to fund TSA officers.
In a social media post, Trump said ICE agents could also be tasked with making immigration arrests at airports.
“If the radical left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our country, in particular, our airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE agents to the airports where they will do security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The proposal comes as a partial government shutdown has left roughly 50,000 TSA employees working without pay, contributing to increased absenteeism and staffing shortages at airports nationwide.
Administration officials said about 10% of TSA workers failed to report for duty on some recent days, compared to typical rates of under 2%.