Trump says ICE could arrest illegal immigrants at airports

President Trump warned Monday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers could make immigration arrests at airports while they are assisting with staffing shortages caused by the partial government shutdown.

Mr. Trump’s comments come as ICE agents patrolled the nation’s airports for the first time to help ease the lengthy security lines caused by Transportation Security Administration workers resigning or calling out sick due to missed paychecks caused by the shutdown.

The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that ICE officers could make arrests, but added that law enforcement is not ICE’s core mission at the airports.

“They love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country,” Mr. Trump said of ICE officers. “It’s very fertile territory. But that’s not why they’re there [at airports]. They’re really there to help.”

Mr. Trump also floated the idea of dispatching the National Guard to airports to help TSA agents, if ICE isn’t enough to handle the chaos.

“We will also bring out the National Guard where we need it to help out at the airports,” Mr. Trump said during a roundtable to discuss crime in Memphis.

He said TSA and ICE are “working together, so far, very well.”

ICE agents arrived at several U.S. airports Monday to assist with the TSA staffing shortages as Democrats again rejected a GOP-backed funding deal that would end the partial shutdown and restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA.

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Representatives for airports in Atlanta, New Orleans, New York, Cleveland, Newark, Fort Myers, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere confirmed ICE agents were on the scene. ICE agents have been dispatched to at least 13 airports, according to a CNN report.

Sending ICE agents to airports is the type of move that Mr. Trump’s critics say is doubling down on his policies in the face of adversity. The dispatch of ICE agents to airports expands his immigration enforcement policies, while refusing to cave and give Democrats a win on the shutdown.

Others say Mr. Trump is working to solve a problem.

“President Trump is stepping in to solve the problem created by the Democrats’ temper tantrum and refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Trump is taking decisive action to problem-solve,” said Jimmy Keady, a Republican strategist.

Lines at security checkpoints in airports across the country have spiked in recent days as several hundred TSA employees have resigned or called out sick because they have been working without pay.

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Saturday marked the day with the highest number of nationwide call-outs — more than 3,250 employees. More than 400 officers have “separated” from the agency, according to DHS.

Democrats have fumed over the idea of ICE agents handling security lines at the nation’s busiest airports. Some Democratic lawmakers have posted a tip sheet for immigrants traveling through airports while ICE is assisting TSA.

“ICE agents have no business or the proper training to function as TSA agents. This is a thinly veiled attempt to intimidate people during travel,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat. “We have seen the chaos and havoc that ICE has brought to our communities.

“The American people don’t want that same chaos and cruelty injected into air travel. It will not make any of us safer.”

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Rep. Shontel Brown, Ohio Democrat, said ICE simply isn’t qualified to handle airport security.

“ICE agents aren’t trained to work airport security — it’s a different job in a different work environment. And as we’ve seen repeatedly with our own eyes, many of Trump’s new agents aren’t even trained to do their own job,” she said.

Some Democrats have shared a video of two plainclothes men arresting a woman at San Francisco’s airport on Sunday. Bystanders witnessing the scene screamed at the two men, urging them to display their badges.

“ICE is not at airports to help TSA and reduce lines. They are there (without identification) trying to arrest people, exactly as I predicted,” Rep. Dan Goldman, New York Democrat, wrote on X.

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• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.