‘the Pressure Is Untenable’: Trump's Deployment Of Ice Agents To Airports Ramps Up Shutdown Fight

ICE agents have been deployed to airports across the country as the partial government shutdown continues, officials at multiple airports confirmed Monday.

Airport and city officials at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport all confirmed to POLITICO that immigration agents were there. Agents have also been seen at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport.

The agents’ arrivals come amid a more than a month-long, ongoing partial government shutdown, with congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump squabbling with Democrats over funding the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats have demanded major changes to the Trump administration’s immigration tactics as a prerequisite to funding the DHS, while congressional Republicans have rejected Democratic bids to fund most of DHS — save for immigration-focused agencies — while talks continue.

Trump on Sunday evening also threw a wrench into congressional negotiations over the shutdown, stating on Truth Social he may not make a deal unless Democrats back his SAVE America Act, the GOP’s partisan elections bill that Democrats are unlikely to support.

But as negotiations continue, TSA agents have gone without pay, leading some to call out of work and triggering hours-long wait times at some airports.

A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — which operates the three major airports in and around New York City — said in a statement “the Port Authority expects that any such personnel assigned to assist with passenger processing functions will be appropriately trained and focused on supporting screening operations, consistent with maintaining the safety, integrity, and efficiency of the security process at our airports and protecting the flying public."

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will also have an estimated 75 federal agents patrolling the airport to perform non-screening support functions, according to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, including monitoring exit lanes, making announcements, assisting with queue management and related activities intended to allow TSA officers to remain focused on passenger and baggage screening.

Johnson, a Democrat, said in a statement he has “concerns” over the agents’ arrival.

“We will closely monitor the deployment and use every tool we have to ensure that people, no matter their immigration status, can travel to and from Chicago safely and without harassment from the federal government,” Johnson said.

Lauren Bis, a DHS spokesperson, confirmed in a statement that agents were being deployed but declined to share at which airports, blaming Democrats for the shutdown. She said over 400 TSA agents have quit their jobs, and highlighted call-out rates that sometimes topped 40 percent at the country’s major airports on Sunday.

One industry official familiar with the political dynamics of the funding stalemate, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the ICE deployment is largely “performative,” with the agents not having certain badges to get into secure parts of airports and not being trained to check documents and bags.

However, helping “with queue management, I think that’s a real thing. They can help staff exit lanes,” the official added. “There could be some operational benefit.”

They said they hadn’t yet seen an official list of where ICE agents are being stationed, but had heard they will be at more than a dozen airports.

The official said “the pressure is untenable” and if lawmakers don’t cut a deal by Friday, “there’s probably a world where they stay” in Washington until there’s a resolution. “I think the chessboard is kind of set for this week,” they said.

Trump first threatened to deploy the agents on Saturday, writing in a post on Truth Social that “if the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!”

He continued: “I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’ NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”

As ICE agents began to arrive at airports on Monday, Trump announced he was also considering sending in National Guard troops to assist the agents.

“I want to thank ICE because they stepped in so strongly,” Trump told reporters at Palm Beach International Airport Monday. “They'll do great. And if that's not enough, we'll bring in the National Guard.”

Trump stated in a separate Truth Social post on Monday that though he supported ICE agents wearing masks while conducting their regular duties, he would make an exception for inside the airports.

Among their list of demands for ICE reform, Democrats have called for agents to be prohibited from wearing masks while on duty.

“I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports,” the president wrote.

Democrats have condemned the federal agents’ deployment to airports.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that agents at airports are “the last thing that the American people need ... potentially to brutalize or in some instances, kill them.”

“We’ve already seen how ICE conducts itself,” the New York Democrat added. “These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job that they have for the most part, let alone deploying them in close exposure and highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.”

The sentiment was echoed by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who accused Trump of creating “chaos.”

“Trump’s ICE has a track record of making communities less safe, and sending untrained ICE agents to staff our airports is not an acceptable solution,” Sherrill said in a statement Sunday.

Sam Ogozalek and Ry Rivard contributed to this report.