Border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would remain at airports until TSA officers are able to resume normal operations.
“We’re going to continue an ICE presence there, and until the airports feel like they’re in 100%, you know, in a posture where they can do normal operations,” Homan said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “So if less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there.”
His comments come days after President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to pay Transportation Security Administration officers as the partial shutdown continues. Homan said in a separate Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that TSA officers will “hopefully” get paid by Monday or Tuesday.
Asked on CNN whether ICE agents would leave airports once TSA officers start getting paid, Homan said, “We’ll see.”
“It depends how many TSA agents come back to work, how many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan of coming back to work. I’m working very closely with TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what,” he said.
“God bless the men women of ICE,” Homan continued, saying that ICE agents were “plugging those holes” at airports. Homan said that ICE agents were helping with tasks like identification checks and protecting exit lanes.
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Approximately 500 TSA workers have quit since the start of the shutdown, according to DHS. In addition, thousands of TSA workers have called out of work as the shutdown stretched on and TSA employees went without paychecks. The shortages have led to long wait times at security checkpoints across the country, with some of the hardest hit airports seeing hourslong lines.
A top TSA official testified before Congress last week that it takes approximately four to six months to train transportation security officers.
On Friday, House Republicans passed a short-term DHS funding bill that does not have enough support in the Senate to become law. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected a Senate-passed bill that would have funded all of DHS except for immigration enforcement and deportation operations.
The DHS shutdown became the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history on Sunday, and there is no clear path forward for funding the department.
