Transportation

TSA officers say ICE deployment won’t ease security lines

by Sarah Fortinsky - 03/24/26 7:38 PM ET

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Transportation Security Administration (TSA) union workers on Tuesday criticized President Trump’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at select airports, saying the move will do little to reduce the long security lines driven by the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

At a virtual press conference hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), TSA union leaders rejected the ICE deployment as an “insult” and a “waste of money,” pointing to the officers’ lack of training and different skill set.

“You want to bring a tactical force into an environment where you’re required to have customer service and skill set, a mindset, where you know what you’re doing, how to identify something that might be suspicious — they don’t have that training,” said Hydrick Thomas, president of the AFGE TSA Council 100 and of AFGE Local 2222, which covers New York and New Jersey airports.

Some TSA union leaders said they have gotten little information about the extent of the training or responsibilities ICE officers are expected to take on.

But Janis Casey, AFGE TSA Council 100 Region 3 vice president, said there is little the ICE officers could do to relieve pressure on TSA staff “because each position requires certification and recertification on a yearly basis. And you cannot fail.”

Thomas, who works at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, said ICE officers stationed at JFK lack the familiarity with airport operations needed to assist travelers.

“You go, right now, and ICE is walking around in the front of the terminal and the checkpoint, and a passenger walks up and says, ‘Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Terminal 4?’ … They have no clue how to give you the right direction to get there,” Thomas said. “You wind up in the parking lot area, the same place you left from, because he was giving the wrong direction. Now, you missed the plane.”

Trump deployed ICE officers to 14 airports across the country this week in an effort to ease long security lines tied to TSA staffing shortages, as officers continue reporting to work without the promise of a paycheck.

Several TSA union leaders expressed frustration that ICE officers sent to airports are being paid while TSA officers are not.

“For them to have them come in, knowing that they’re collecting a per diem check and hotels, to come to these airports while officers are not receiving a paycheck is also, you know, I feel like it’s waste,” said Aaron Barker, president of AFGE Local 554, which covers airports in Georgia.

“It’s a waste of money that could have been coming into officers’ bank accounts,” he added.

Barker said ICE officers in Atlanta who are “monitoring lines” are not filling staffing gaps, noting the city employs staff designated to direct passenger flow.

“Some airports already have the things in place that is being claimed that ICE is doing in the airports,” he said.

He also pushed back on claims from the Trump administration that ICE officers helped ease lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which were shorter Tuesday than over the weekend.

Barker noted that Tuesday and Wednesday are “nonpeak days,” so it’s expected that lines would be shorter, particularly in Atlanta, which he described as an “entertainment hub” that draws heavier weekend travel.

“It has nothing to do with ICE presence being there. The ICE officers in Atlanta are not doing any screening functions. They are literally standing behind the officers while they’re checking documents and screening passengers or walking the queue line that cascades through the airport,” he said.

Johnny Jones, AFGE TSA Council 100 secretary treasurer and AFGE Local 1040 president, dismissed the focus on ICE officers altogether, calling their presence a “distraction” from the more urgent matter of missed paychecks.

“Look, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what ICE is doing up there. They just need to pay the employees,” Jones said. “This is a straight-up distraction to the real story of TSA officers going to work without being paid. The ICE officers are being paid. This is kind of like an insult to the employees.”

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