Here's a situation that's making airport security lines even more stressful than usual: unpaid TSA workers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showing up to help. Or, depending on who you ask, to not help at all.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on President Donald Trump to fix it. His message, posted on X, was pretty direct: "ICE needs to leave the airports NOW." He added, "Trump needs to pay TSA workers NOW, and push Republicans to reach a deal. No intimidation forces at our airports. No more chaos at checkpoints. Enough is enough."
He's not alone. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) put it even more bluntly: "Donald Trump needs to pay TSA and get ICE the hell out of our airports." The core complaint? The Trump administration's decision to deploy ICE officers to 14 major airports is creating more problems than it solves, especially while the people who usually do the job aren't getting paid.
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) echoed the sentiment, focusing on the workers: "TSA agents don't need ICE officers hovering over their shoulders and intimidating travelers—they need to get paid!" She pointed out that Democrats have tried eight times to fund the TSA, but Republicans have blocked those efforts.
The Union's Take: An 'Insult' and a 'Waste'
The people who actually work the security lines aren't thrilled either. Leaders of the TSA union have slammed the ICE deployment, calling it an "insult" and a "waste of money." Their argument is simple: screening passengers requires specific, specialized training that these agents don't have.
Hydrick Thomas, president of the AFGE TSA Council 100, put it in tactical terms. He said the move places a tactical force in a role that requires nuanced judgment, "not just uniforms." In other words, having a gun and a badge doesn't automatically make you good at figuring out if that toothpaste tube is a threat.
Last week, the White House tried to clarify the confusion. Border czar Tom Homan said ICE agents would not be operating X-ray machines or directly screening passengers. Instead, they'd handle peripheral tasks like monitoring exits. The idea, apparently, is to free up the real TSA officers to focus on the primary screening lines.
President Trump, for his part, praised the move and blamed Democrats for the funding holdup. In a characteristically capitalized post, he said, "THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!!!"
The Root of the Chaos: No Paycheck
All of this political back-and-forth is happening against a backdrop of real travel chaos. The partial government shutdown has left TSA officers working without pay. Unsurprisingly, that's led to a spike in absenteeism. During the busy spring break travel period, some airports have seen security delays stretch up to four hours.
So you have unpaid, frustrated TSA workers, a new group of untrained agents on the floor, and millions of travelers caught in the middle. It's a perfect recipe for the kind of airport experience nobody wants.
On the Republican side, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is proposing a structural fix to break the political logjam. He's pushing to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) separately from the rest of the Department of Homeland Security budget. His reasoning? "What I've suggested is that the Democrats have gotten so extreme and unreasonable that I don't know that they will ever be willing to fund Department of Homeland Security." By splitting the funding, he argues, essential agencies like ICE and CBP wouldn't be held hostage by broader budget fights.
For now, the standoff continues. Democrats are saying "enough is enough" on the airport deployments. The TSA union is calling the help an insult. And travelers are just hoping to get through security in time for their flight.
