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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and agents have mixed reactions to President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to deploy them to airports to assist TSA during the partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n
Trump announced the plan Saturday to begin the effort Monday in the hopes of reducing airport security wait times as TSA officers report massive staff shortages as they continue to go unpaid.<\/p>\n
Multiple Department of Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire that there\u2019s word that the deployment will consist of agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE whose mission goes beyond just investigating immigration-related crimes. HSI special agents are tasked with child exploitation cases, cybercrimes, and the smuggling of antiquities.<\/p>\n
They also maintain offices at several major airports across the United States, sources said.<\/p>\n
One ICE source said they \u201cwouldn\u2019t mind\u201d helping TSA, adding, \u201cHowever, a lot of us have reached our overtime caps.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would need to provide waivers \u2026 I don\u2019t think it would jeopardize field arrests if that happens,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n
A second ICE source emphatically said, \u201cI\u2019ll go.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to a postal worker strike in 1970, President Richard Nixon deployed hundreds of soldiers with the Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, Air National Guard, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Reserve to deliver Americans\u2019 mail.<\/p>\n
An ICE source said Trump should do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the National Guard or military reserves are better suited,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
Two recently-retired ICE officials also expressed their opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the problem. ICE are the tool that gets thrown around to do everything other than their job,\u201d one of the retired officials said.<\/p>\n
Another called Trump\u2019s plan \u201cprofoundly misguided and reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTSA officers receive specialized, intensive training in passenger screening, threat detection, and the use of advanced equipment training that ICE personnel, despite their excellence in interior enforcement, do not possess,\u201d the retired officer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRedirecting ICE agents from their current, highly effective operations where they maintain a proven rhythm in arresting and detaining those unlawfully present would undermine both airport security standards and nationwide immigration priorities,\u201d the former fed added.<\/p>\n
Another officer expressed concern with the optics as they\u2019re increasingly perceived as \u201cthe gestapo\u201d who are \u201charassing U.S. citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump tasked his border czar, Tom Homan, with leading the airport deployment.<\/p>\n
\nTom Homan says he\u2019s working on the plan to deploy ICE agents to assist TSA at airports starting tomorrow. One area he said they\u2019ll be able to help is monitoring airport exits, saying \u201cI don\u2018t see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine because they\u2018re not trained in that.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/fEgdBs8XAv<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n