--- title: TSA agents outraged, baffled by ICE deployment at airports description: TSA workers tell TIME that Trump's ICE agents won't shorten lines because ICE agents have no training in airport security. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-03-23T21:08:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-25T15:47:35.020Z article:section: Politics og:title: “An Insult to Us”: TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports og:description: For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents to their workplaces has sparked frustration and bafflement, as wait time at major U.S. airports continue to get longer. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a0b8c88f5eba6e/69c199623c834700770c825b/GettyImages-2267590298.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y0.00 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2267590298.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: “An Insult to Us”: TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports twitter:description: For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents to their workplaces has sparked frustration and bafflement, as wait time at major U.S. airports continue to get longer. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a0b8c88f5eba6e/69c199623c834700770c825b/GettyImages-2267590298.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y0.00 ---  # 'An Insult to Us': TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports ## Video: TSA Officer on the Impact of the Partial Government Shutdown [Watch (HLS stream): TSA Officer on the Impact of the Partial Government Shutdown](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BIceF6B4.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2026-03-25. For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents has sparked frustration and bafflement._  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Mar 23, 2026 9:08 PM UTC  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Mar 23, 2026 9:08 PM UTC ICE agents [descended](https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/ice-airports-homan-duffy-trump-administration/) on some of the nation’s busiest airports on Monday, ostensibly to help address a [growing crisis](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/government-shutdown-tsa-democrats-congress-trump/) as frustrated passengers face hours-long lines to get through [airport security.](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/airport-close-delays-dhs-shutdown-tsa/) President Donald Trump and Administration officials [framed the move](https://time.com/article/2026/03/21/ice-airports-tsa-wait-times/) as a boon to the approximately 50,000 TSA workers who have been working for five weeks without pay amid a partial [government shutdown](https://time.com/7378601/government-shutdown-congress-ice-dhs-democrats-polls/). But for some TSA workers, the move has sparked frustration and bafflement. TIME spoke to three TSA agents from three different airports, all of whom expressed deep suspicion about whether the deployment of ICE agents’ is about shortening the long lines or scoring political points. “Best cases, they \[ICE agents\] will end up being in the way. Worst cases, well, we’ve seen what ICE can do in the worst cases,” said one TSA agent based in a mid-Atlantic airport who chose to be anonymous for fear of retaliation. Airport security lines have been the most visible impact of the partial government shutdown that began on Feb 14\. Over the weekend, airline agents at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport instructed travelers to arrive at least four hours early due to TSA lines, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution [reported](https://www.ajc.com/news/2026/03/live-updates-what-were-seeing-from-hartsfield-jackson-atlanta-international-airport/). Frustrated passengers at New York’s LaGuardia airport posted on social media photos of mammoth security lines spilling outside of the airport and into the parking garage and sidewalks. For some TSA agents and their allies, the ICE deployment feels baffling and even insulting, given the unique demands of maintaining airport security. “I’m not sure what they’re even doing. They don’t have screening functions or training like we have,” said a TSA agent based in Washington D.C., who also requested anonymity. The agent said her TSA training took about six months, and she needed a few months on the job to get a real handle on the work. TIME has reached out to ICE to clarify the exact scope of its job responsibilities at airports as well as the amount of agents being deployed. Border czar [Tom Homan](https://time.com/7357864/trump-minneapolis-ice-border-czar/), who is coordinating the ICE effort at the airports, has defended its value while acknowledging the training gap. “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because we’re not trained in that,” Homan said on [CNN’s State of the Union](https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sotu/date/2026-03-22/segment/01) on Sunday. “But there are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs, and put them in the specialized jobs to help move those lines.” During Trump’s second term, ICE has ramped up its hiring, adding thousands to its workforce, while cutting down on training time from 72 days to 42 days. According to documents provided by a former ICE training instructor to Congress, ICE agents normally receive virtually no training on the work TSA agents do such as analyzing X-Ray images or identifying items prohibited to be brought onto a plane. Everett Kelley, President of American Federation of Government Employees who represents all TSA agents, also questioned the value of Trump’s deployment, saying in a statement that “putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.” ## **Missing Paychecks** Adding to the frustration is that while ICE’s tactics are the focus of the shutdown of Homeland Security, ICE agents are still [largely getting paid](https://time.com/7357762/government-shutdown-ice-alex-pretti-explainer/) through a surge in funding ICE received through the domestic policy bill Republicans passed last July, known as the Big Beautiful Bill. “It’s embarrassing and an insult to us because they have been getting paid and still are,” the D.C.-based TSA agent said. The partial government shutdown has caused more than 400 TSA officers to quit and thousands to call out from work, according to DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis. For many TSA agents, finding another job to support their own living is not an easy option. Sharre Quick, a TSA agent in Las Vegas, says agents must receive prior approval before working anywhere else, and that as essential employees, they are legally required to show up for work. “When people are doing their best and showing up and being required to do something and they're doing it, then they should be paid for their labor,” says Quick, who adds that she received her last paycheck as a TSA agent in February. Because most of the work during that pay period came after the shutdown started, it was for only $4.27, she says. Facing financial instability, dozens of agents have launched fundraisers on GoFundMe to raise money for basic living expenses for their families. Some have resorted to sleeping in their cars and selling their blood to defray the cost of commuting to work, acting deputy TSA administrator Adam Stahl [told](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-airports-could-shut-down-officer-call-out-rate-climbs/) CBS News. Denver International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest airports, [pleaded on X](https://x.com/DENAirport/status/2031788433933250627?s=20) earlier this month that TSA agents need donations of grocery store and gas station gift cards. This is the second shutdown TSA agents have been forced to endure in less than a year. Agents say morale has never been lower, and that much of the public fail to understand how hard the last few months have been on them. “I think the biggest misconception is that we are officers first, and that's not really true. We're people first, we're officers second, and that we have to look at it from the human aspect,” says Quick. “It is very difficult to, you know, choose between your civic duty and your hungry child looking at you in the face.” During the last shutdown, which ended in November after a record-breaking 43 days, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem [offered $10,000](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/11/14/secretary-noem-gives-tsa-officers-10000-bonus-for-above-and-beyond) bonuses to TSA agents “with exemplary service” to boost morale. All three TSA agents interviewed by TIME said they had met the alleged criteria but didn’t receive a bonus. “It was supposed to be perfect attendance during the shutdown. No calling out, no clocking in late or leaving early,” recalls one agent. “Then, I guess they had to break it down because there were too many eligible.” Another agent adds that some TSA agents are now overcoming difficult circumstances to continue working unpaid in hopes of receiving a $10,000 bonus after this shutdown, though no such offer has been announced this time around. Asked about their message to people who felt frustrated waiting for hours at the airport, the TSA agents said: be considerate of one another. “Drive if they’re able to. Rebook their trip until things calm down after we are funded. Be patient and kind to TSA Officers,” the agent said. “And keep moving through the line.” TSA Officer on the Impact of the Partial Government Shutdown ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/"},"headline":"'An Insult to Us': TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports","datePublished":"2026-03-23T21:08:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-25T15:47:35.020Z","description":"For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents has sparked frustration and bafflement.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/","keywords":["Trump Administration","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a0b8c88f5eba6e/69c199623c834700770c825b/GettyImages-2267590298.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y0.00&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/philip-wang/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a0b8c88f5eba6e/69c199623c834700770c825b/GettyImages-2267590298.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y0.00&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2267590298.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/","name":"'An Insult to Us': TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why ICE Is at Airports and What It Means for You","description":"For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents has sparked frustration and bafflement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Y5ubJpol/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-03-23T18:29:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y5ubJpol.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/","duration":"PT1M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TSA Officer on the Impact of the Partial Government Shutdown","description":"For some TSA workers, Trump's deployment of ICE agents has sparked frustration and bafflement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BIceF6B4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-03-25T14:23:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BIceF6B4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/tsa-agents-ice-airports-trump-dhs-reactions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```