Trump threatens to deploy ICE at airports amid Homeland Security shutdown

Sunday March 22, 2026

United States President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he travels to his Mar-a-Lago resort on March 20, 2026 [AFP]

With airport lines swelling and thousands of screeners still working without pay, United States President Donald Trump is escalating pressure on Congress — and now says he is prepared to send federal immigration agents into the nation’s terminals to “do Security like no one has ever seen”.

“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY,’” Trump wrote in a series of posts on Saturday. “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”

Trump’s warnings on Saturday arrived on the five-week mark of a partial government shutdown that affects the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress missed a February 14 deadline to fund the sprawling department, which includes agencies dedicated to border security, anti-terrorism operations, immigration services and emergency management.

The stalemate has left nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees on the job for weeks without pay.

That strain is showing up at checkpoints. Some airport security officers have called in sick or resigned from the TSA, contributing to long lines and delays at airports in parts of the country.

In his first post on Truth Social, Trump pinned the impasse on Democrats and warned he could replace TSA functions by deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to handle airport security.

“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.

He said the move would also be used to carry out “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia“.

Since beginning a second term, Trump has overseen a violent crackdown on immigration, including against people with legal status.

Somalis and Somali Americans have repeatedly drawn the Republican president’s ire. In early December, he referred to them as “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing”.

“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said at the time. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. And we don’t want them in our country.”

Trump returned to that theme in Saturday’s posts, again claiming Somalis have “totally destroyed” what he called “the once Great State of Minnesota”.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali American community in the United States and is also the state represented by one of Trump’s most prominent critics, Representative Ilhan Omar, who arrived in the US as a child refugee from Somalia.

The state has also been at the center of a recent deadly immigration operation in which two US citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed in shootings by agents.

Those deaths have become a flashpoint in the broader fight over funding and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agencies involved in the recent killings.

Democrats have demanded changes to immigration enforcement, including rules requiring agents to clearly identify themselves, prohibiting racial profiling and mandating judicial warrants before entering homes.

Republicans have dismissed those conditions as unacceptable. They have also turned aside Democratic proposals to vote on TSA funding separately from funding for ICE and other immigration agencies.

Trump, seeking to force passage of Homeland Security funding, has threatened to veto any legislation Congress approves. He has also repeatedly accused Democrats of blocking pay for airport security officers.

The TSA reported that, as of March 17, 366 security officers had quit.

Absenteeism has climbed as well: The TSA said the highest rate was recorded at Houston Hobby International Airport on March 14, when 55 percent of officers called out.

Industry analysts say the staffing gaps add pressure on those still working, potentially leaving officers more fatigued and less attentive to threats.

How ICE would ease the immediate disruption remains unclear, as its agents do not receive the same training as TSA officers. Critics have also warned of the dangers of militarised enforcement in civilian spaces such as airports, where families and elderly travelers are often present.

“I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” Trump wrote in one of his posts.

In another, he intensified his attacks on Democrats, describing them as “vicious and uncaring”.

“What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” he wrote.

“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!”