President Donald Trump thanked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for helping TSA employees on Monday and suggested that he could also deploy the National Guard to address ongoing airport chaos.
“I want to thank ICE because they stepped in so strongly. They’ll do great, and if that’s not enough, I’ll bring in the National Guard. We’re not going to have the Democrats destroy our country,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
ICE agents began shifts at airports nationwide on Monday morning as TSA delays worsen at major hubs amid a partial government shutdown that has stretched into its 37th day. Over the weekend, more than a third of TSA employees called in absent or sick at some of the largest airports in the United States, including Atlanta, Houston, and New York City, according to the Department of Homeland Security. TSA agents have not been paid since the partial government shutdown began.
The ICE agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport appeared to be focusing on patrolling lines outside TSA checkpoints and assisting with crowd control as lines stretched out of the building, CBS News reported on Monday morning. Some passengers told CBS News that they had been waiting in line for hours and had arrived at the airport four hours before their flights.
ICE agents are expected to help the short-staffed TSA crews by checking passengers’ IDs while TSA employees focus on security screenings. Atlanta Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens assured travelers that ICE agents would not conduct immigration operations at the airport and would report to TSA.
The heroes of ICE have arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to assist the short-staffed TSA agents, who’ve gone more than a month without pay as a result of the Democrat shutdown of @DHSgov. pic.twitter.com/3bmtJqRawd
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 23, 2026
Trump also asked for ICE agents to keep masks off while they work at airports, arguing that air travelers “typically aren’t murderers, killers, drug dealers, etc.”
“I didn’t think it was an appropriate look for an airport,” he added. “I think it’s a very appropriate look when they’re out on the street trying to find one of the 11,888 murderers that sleepy Joe Biden let into the country.”
Trump told reporters that the partial shutdown, which is affecting funding for the Department of Homeland Security, “is all caused by the Democrats.”
“Just so you know, all this money was approved. … The Democrats went in, and they want to have radical Left lunatics come into our country, they want to have drug dealers, they want to have murderers come into our country. They want to have open borders, and we’re not letting it happen,” Trump said.
The DHS funding lapse stems from a fight between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill as Democratic lawmakers push for ICE reform to be part of any funding deal. While Congress remains deadlocked over DHS funding, some TSA employees have said they can’t afford to miss any more paychecks, The Daily Wire previously reported.
After the record-breaking government shutdown last year, TSA employees who remained on the job received a $10,000 bonus on top of back pay. Trump told reporters on Monday that another bonus could be a possibility for TSA employees who remain on the job during this shutdown.
“It’s not easy for them,” Trump said of the TSA workers going without paychecks.
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