SAFETY FIRST: Tom Homan explains what ICE agents will do at crowded airports amid TSA staffing shortages

March 23, 2026

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that ICE agents will deploy to airports across the country Monday to assist TSA officers with security at airport entrances and exits where lines have been particularly long in recent weeks.

Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” he was currently working on a plan for the deployment with the leaders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration.

He said he believed it would begin at large airports that have seen longest wait times and that agents would cover security points but wouldn’t provide help with baggage screenings.

“You know, certainly a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit. Make sure people don’t go through those exits, enter an airport through the exits and stuff like that, relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines,” Homan added.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that ICE agents would be deployed to airports to ease long lines.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced on Sunday that his administration had been informed that federal officers from Homeland Security Investigations and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations would be deployed to Atlanta’s airport starting Monday morning.

“According to federal officials, these personnel will be assigned to support operational needs directed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), including line management and crowd control within the domestic terminals,” Dickens said in a statement. “Federal officials have indicated that this deployment is not intended to conduct immigration enforcement activities.”