Trump's Threat to Deploy Immigration Agents to Airports Over Budget Issues

US President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to provide security at airports. The threat was made as budget issues have caused airport security personnel to go unpaid. According to AFP on Sunday (22/3/2026), Trump issued the threat via Truth Social. He emphasised that if the Democratic Party does not promptly sign the funding agreement, he will deploy ICE agents. “I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote. A few hours later, he posted that “I hope to move ICE on Monday, and have notified them to ‘BE PREPARED.’” The posts appeared a few hours after tech tycoon Elon Musk offered to cover the salaries of US airport security personnel who have been working without pay since mid-February due to the partial US government shutdown. Airport Workers Unpaid The funding shortfall has forced thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff—who screen passengers, baggage, and cargo at airports—to work without pay as spring travel increases. The agency, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), consists of about 65,000 employees, according to its website. Various estimates place its annual salaries between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively impacting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country,” Musk wrote on X. Democrats in Congress oppose new funding for DHS until changes are implemented in how ICE conducts immigration enforcement raids, following several violent confrontations that emerged in social media videos. Democrats have demanded a reduction in patrols, a ban on face masks, and requirements for ICE agents to obtain court warrants before entering private property. Although ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, it is able to maintain operations using funds approved by Congress last year. According to DHS, more than 300 TSA employees have resigned since the government shutdown began on 14 February, while US media report that unexcused absences have more than doubled. Some officers are taking side jobs or relying on donations, union officials said, and some major airports are collecting gift cards and stocking food pantries for struggling unpaid TSA staff. Airport Operations Disrupted Airports in several cities have warned passengers to arrive several hours earlier than usual due to long security queues. “Many employees have reported to me that their bank accounts are zero or negative,” Johnny Jones, a Dallas-based official from the government workers’ union AFGE, told USA Today. “There’s no money for childcare, no money for food. They just want to know why they can’t get paid while we have money to fire missiles at other countries,” he said. Following the murder of two US citizens protesting an aggressive ICE raid in Minneapolis in January, Trump sacked the head of domestic security Kristi Noem, but the immigration enforcement agency remains highly unpopular among many US citizens. In his first post announcing the move, Trump took a swipe at the Democrat-led state where Minneapolis is located, saying that if deployed to airports, ICE agents would quickly arrest illegal immigrants who have “completely destroyed… the once great State of Minnesota.”