'No practical use': TSA experts say Trump's ICE deployments won't help with airport security [View all]
Source: GovExec.com
President Trump will beginning Monday shift Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel to airports to provide security there in a move he said will alleviate long lines created by shutdown-induced callouts but which experienced TSA officials said would have minimal impact.
The unusual approach comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly lamented that Transportation Security Administration employees are calling out and quitting the agency due to the shutdowns impact on paychecks, lengthening wait times at many airports around the country. Details of the assignments were not clear as of Sunday, despite Trump declaring that the airport deployments would occur on Monday. Tom Homan, the White Houses border czar, told CNN on Sunday that he was working on the plan and would come up with one soon.
Several current and former TSA officials told Government Executive that ICE personnel will be limited in what they can accomplish at airports, as they will not have the requisite training to check identification, examine luggage x-rays or provide other key security services. TSA employees go through classroom and on-the-job training before they can staff those roles, the officials said.
It serves no practical use, said one former official with decades of federal experience who declined to be named out of fear of professional reprisal. It's a political, publicity action, not a practical solution.
Read more: https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/03/no-practical-use-tsa-experts-say-trumps-ice-deployments-wont-help-airport-security/412298/?oref=ge-home-top-story
TSA experts think its a worthless sideshow.