‘Another disaster waiting to happen’: Sending ICE agents into airports incites uproar as TSA wait times stretch hours long

Trump’s plan to deploy ICE agents to 13 airports amid the travel chaos left the internet with more questions than answers.

ICE agents at a TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday, March 23, 2026. [Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Amid the ongoing partial U.S. government shutdown, social media is dominated by images of airports in chaos. Security lines are stretching into airport parking garages. Wait times are hours long. More and more travelers are outright missing their flights due to the delays.

On paper, the solution is clear: restore funding to the TSA to get agents paid again and back into airports. But President Donald Trump had a different idea that’s gone into effect as of Monday: send ICE agents into airports instead.

The partial shutdown began when the Department of Homeland Security’s funding lapsed on February 14, with Democrats refusing to fund the department without reform to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, in the wake of the fatal shootings by ICE agents of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. With both ICE and the TSA falling under the DHS, funding for the latter was halted, causing a shortage of TSA workers and inciting the major delays now impacting travelers nationwide.

Democrats have since advanced several motions to fund the TSA without letting ICE go unreformed, but Republicans have blocked them every time.

Trump revealed his proposed solution via a Truth Social post on Sunday, March 22.

“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,” he wrote.

Now, as ICE agents begin working at 13 major airports across America, social media is sounding off, from politicians to everyday citizens concerned about ICE’s role in airport security.

immigration and customs enforcement

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