Overview
- President Trump warned he will send ICE agents to airports to perform security and arrest undocumented immigrants if Democrats do not agree to fund DHS, a move that raises legal and operational questions because ICE agents are not trained screeners.
- Trump later signaled the deployment could begin as soon as Monday and said he has told ICE to get ready.
- Roughly 50,000 to 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay, with DHS reporting hundreds of resignations and absenteeism sustained above 9% and peaking at 10.22% on one recent day.
- Major airports reported hours‑long waits, with Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans and Philadelphia among the hardest hit, and TSA’s acting deputy administrator warned smaller airports may have to shut down if staffing worsens.
- Elon Musk publicly offered to pay TSA salaries during the funding impasse, though it is unclear whether the government can legally accept such private payments.