On March 24, 2026, Trump deployed ICE agents to 14 major airports during the DHS shutdown — then threatened to send in the National Guard. “And if we have to, we're going to send in the National Guard, if we need to,” Trump said at a Republican fundraiser on March 25. On Truth Social, he posted: “I may call up the National Guard for more help.”
The deployment was billed as ICE agents stepping in to “fill the holes” left by unpaid TSA workers. In reality, ICE agents were not trained on X-ray machines, magnetometers, or body scanners. Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said agents would help with “non-specialised security functions” — essentially crowd control and ID checks.
What followed was theater. At JFK, agents were photographed standing in a circle sipping Starbucks while wait times stretched to an hour. In Puerto Rico, agents lounged in a cafe. At Dulles, half a dozen agents walked through the terminal carrying CAVA takeout bags. At Atlanta, agents roamed with Bodyarmor sports drinks while passengers waited hours. One DHS official told CBS News plainly: “I have no idea what we're doing.”
TSA officer Pascual Contreras captured the absurdity: “We need to be paid. Why would you bring another agency to be TSA when you already have TSA?” AFGE union VP Cameron Cochems called it “a Band-Aid over a gaping wound. Our officers, they're not getting paid, and having people that come in that are getting paid just feels like an insult.”
The funding disparity was stark. ICE received $75 billion in Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — seven times its typical annual budget — making it shutdown-proof. TSA depends on yearly appropriations that lapsed on February 14. So fully paid ICE agents stood around airports while 61,000 unpaid TSA workers screened passengers. Over 480 TSA officers quit during the shutdown. Callout rates hit 42.3% in New Orleans, 41.5% in Atlanta, and 37.4% at JFK.
Steve Bannon said the quiet part loud on War Room: “We can use this as a test run, as a test case, to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 midterms.” He added: “ICE is going to be there in the fall of '26, just like they're in airports today.” The ACLU responded: “Never in our history has a president deployed armed agents to the airport to inspire fear among families.”