Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have deployed to several airports as Senate Democrats continue to withhold funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
ICE was deployed Saturday to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers amid a nationwide airport crisis, as the partial government shutdown left TSA officers without pay and suspended their “nonessential privileges and courtesies,” according to DHS. President Donald Trump had threatened in a Saturday Truth Social post to deploy ICE agents to airports if the “Radical Left Democrats” failed to agree on a funding bill — hours after a fifth vote to end the shutdown failed 47-37.
ICE agents have been deployed to at least 13 airports, according to a list CNN published Monday. The list includes Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — which consistently ranks as the busiest in the U.S. — where more than a third of TSA officers “called out sick” according to Axios.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman broke ranks with Senate Democrats amidst the shutdown, stating that he was the only Democrat “through this entire thing” to oppose a government shutdown. “Let’s just reopen DHS, pay everybody, stop all these lines and make our nation more secure,” Fetterman said Friday.
Elon Musk offered on Saturday to pay the salaries of TSA officers in an X post, although no government officials have appeared to have commented on the offer and the legality of doing so remains unaddressed.
DHS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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