With security lines at airports backing up for hours in some places, as TSA screeners call out sick during the partial government shutdown, President Trump is calling for them to be replaced by ICE agents. I guess starting Monday, if you forget to take your laptop out of your bag you get deported?
ICE will do the job far better than ever done before! …I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday
I take President Trump just to be threatening to do something that Democrats will hate, if they don’t capitulate on funding for the Department of Homeland Security without significant concessions on agency policies.
However, this plan is not legal, isn’t close to viable, and would be bad for both airport security and Trump’s own preferred immigration policies.
- This is not legal at least in the short-run. Federal law makes the TSA Administrator responsible for day-to-day federal screening operations and for hiring and training screening personnel. All airport screening must be supervised by uniformed TSA personnel, and screening personnel cannot be deployed unless they meet TSA-set qualifications.
The statute requires minimum screener training, including at least 40 hours of classroom instruction before someone is permitted to work the checkpoint performing screening. This training is provided through the TSA Academy which involves weeks of required travel and training. ICE cannot legally show up on Monday and do checkpoint screening. (You could send them to the airport as extra armed presence or to fill support roles. They can be in the airport but can’t just legally act as screeners.)
- There are too many absent screeners to replace There are about 50,000 TSA screeners. And with current 10% absence rates, that’s 5,000 people to replace. Now, on a normal day there are 2% absences. So the replacement figure they’d need is 4,000 staffers.
In practice you would need more reserve than that, because absences aren’t evenly distributed with some airports seeing over 50% absences like Houston Intercontinental.
This would have to be a traveling force, staying in hotels, moving to where they’re needed. A fixed ICE deployment would be chasing a moving target, since demand varies by airport and by day.
- Trump would be walking away from border enforcement. A 4,000-person airport surge would consume about 20% of the ICE (and about 40% of the pre-Trump surge at ICE).
- And fewer terrorism investigations. Homeland Security Investigations agents have already been reassigned to immigration duties. Their 7,000 special agents normally focus on terrorism, trafficking, money laundering, arms, financial crimes, child exploitation, and IP theft. So that group gets stretched further.
Immediate replacement of absent TSA screeners with ICE agents isn’t possible. They first need TSA qualifications, and those can’t statutorily come by “Monday.” In any case, ICE agents are not trained for checkpoint screening, so you get slower processing, more mistakes, and likely more conflict in the airport. Plus, it pulls manpower away from both immigration and homeland security investigations.
Especially after Minnesota, I don’t think we want an ICE surge in airports, which would appear like immigration enforcement at airport checkpoints. I get why you wouldn’t detail IRS agents to airports right as we head into tax season, but why ICE?
The better take comes from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who says we should privatize TSA, even though his argument for it is fairly unsophisticated.
Is there evidence that creating TSA has made air travel safer over the past 25 years?
If not, then why not let the airlines and airports handle it?
Why give politicians the power to play games with the travel of our people? https://t.co/mKvzqjKBof
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) March 21, 2026
We should separate out regulation of airport security from actually performing the screening function like most major Western countries do, because having an agency regulate itself is a bad practice if you care about security and accountability. You don’t just get more consistent, reliable funding you get better security.
Unfortunately, only 20 airports (San Francisco, Kansas City, Sarasota and some small ones) have been able to participate in the ‘Screening Partnership Program’ that allows this today. The TSA largely blocked airports from being added during the Obama and Biden administration. And the program itself is hardly a best practice, since there’s not a competitive process or airport say in which company gets the contract. The screening company is assigned by TSA.
In any case, as for the idea of ICE agents showing up Monday to do airport security, there is an actual White House counsel. Maybe nobody listens to him. But he’d presumably introduce 49 USC § 44901 which would first require the ICE agents to actually transfer to TSA under the authority and supervision of the TSA administrator, and then go through the statutory minimum training which currently takes several weeks (and there’s not enough throughput to train up replacements quickly at scale in any case).
@ Gary — What this is is stupid. Dear Leader, PLEASE do this! This will be another step toward an approval rating < 30%. We'll get there, eventually. Likely, sooner than expected. What a moron.
what’s illegal? it’s not said illegal
Actually, ICE agents are already trained for this, possibly better than TSA agents are. The “C” in ICE stands for Customs. They’re trained to spot things that should not be brought into the country. I have no doubt they would have a problem screening baggage and passengers.
I also doubt there would be a legal issue – federal employees are routinely reassigned temporarily from one agency to another, though if it becomes an issue, a TSA supervisor can be assigned.
What @Gene said. Folks don’t want to see ICE agents at the airport. Dems will protest etc. but they’d be smart not to – the whole dispute is about ICE! As you note it takes ICE agents off the “front lines” (whatever those are) if they have to be reassigned. And it makes those agents front and center with the 50% of the American people that fly every year. Everyone knows this has nothing to do with the TSA and they are just pawns in a larger fight – if it was about the TSA, the standalone bill to fund the TSA could have been passed already.
That said, so many loopholes. Same statute you linked to says TSA administrator can enter into a MOU with orgs like ICE to provide personnel to help with ‘training’. ICE agents probably have no clue how to operate an x-ray machine but i’d wager it’s not rocket science to help people with the bins / push the bags into the screener / help waive people through the metal detectors / screeners. Those ICE agents can “train” TSA agents how to do those tasks. “Now, watch me as I don’t smile while pushing this bag through the screener because I just got reassigned to work airport security…”
(g) (1) Use of other agencies.—
The Administrator may enter into a memorandum of understanding or other arrangement with any other Federal agency or department with appropriate law enforcement responsibilities, to provide personnel, resources, or other forms of assistance in the training of security screening personnel.
ICE can check ID’s, do crowd control, collect bins.
Will they be masked?
@ Ron — More importantly, can I wear my mask? How about my FT t-shirt?
@Peter – they can work with other agencies on training, not screening. Screeners must be under the authority of the TSA administrator, and must meet statutory minimum training before they can do screening.
@Dan – it doesn’t matter if ICE agents can “spot things that should be not brought into the country” – and screening is not rocket science. But the statute sets specific minimum training specifically for screening. And the statute also says how other agency employees can be used – to train screeners, not to be screeners. The law is quite explicit.
Another dumb idea. It will make things slower and worse. Not to mentioning less safe.
Simple answers if the politicians on the right cared is to pass any of the standalone TSA, FEMA, CISA, Coast Guard bills.
They won’t so all of this mess is on them.
Just remember who is really causing the problems when you vote.
Americans tend to have a 90 second memory.
I assume this assignment would be after ICE opens the Straight of Hormuz and creates all of the jobs that have been lost over the last 12 months
I cut and pasted a regulation, but the special characters probably hit your screener. I cannot be bothered to do it again. Based on the US House Gov, 49 USC 44931 Authority to Exempt, if I read it right, the “Secretary of Homeland Security” may grant an exemption to the regulation you stated if they decide it is in the “public interest.” Go look at your auto screener.
Whether putting ICE into airports is wise, I have no idea. Personally, I am flying twice next week, so I hope somebody does something.
With an executive order he could make it happen. Not debating if makes sense but your argument it isn’t legal likely wouldn’t hold up w an executive order and emergency declaration by the President. Also the head of TSA reports to the President so would do what is required.
Personally I think military or national guard troops should be deployed to assist in screening.
Another offering from the White House Office of Bad Ideas.
I wonder who is currently the Secretary of Homeland Security until Markwayne Mullin is confirmed. Does anyone know?