Rabat – Social media posts depicting daunting lines at US airports continue to spread as up to 150 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were deployed by the Trump administration last week..
Trump officials claim ICE presence at airports is purely meant to ease long lines caused by the shortage of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who are working without pay during the partial government shutdown since Congress failed to pass funding legislation on February 14.
However, many Americans fear the deployment is part of a more nefarious plot to carry out immigration detainments.
Read also: Trump is Deploying ICE Agents to US Airports
ICE agents still receive regular pay because they are classified as essential personnel and their funding comes from a long-term stream, while TSA agent pay – also classified as essential – relies on annual appropriations that have lapsed and await congressional approval.
The union representing TSA officers criticised the move, saying staff “deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents.”
More than 400 TSA officers have quit according to a post from the White House on Sunday.
“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday, “I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.”
Social media has been circulating concerning reports of increased harassment at airports — some related and other non-related to the recent surge in ICE agents.
One such viral video shows ICE agents in plainclothes detained a woman at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Sunday night.
However, SFO said they believe it was an isolated event, as the airport is not on the list of reported ICE deployments.
Which airports will ICE enter
The administration has not announced which airports ICE agents might be stationed in.
“For operational security reasons, we are not going to confirm the locations of our officers,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Lauren Bis, told USA Today.
However, the Associated Press news agency reported that ICE officers were observed patrolling terminals and standing near long security lines at:
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- John F Kennedy International Airport in New York
- Louis Armstrong International Airport near New Orleans
- Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey
Meanwhile, CNN reported the following airports:
- Chicago-O’Hare International Airport
- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
- Houston’s William P Hobby Airport
- New York LaGuardia Airport
- Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
- Philadelphia International Airport
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
- Pittsburgh International Airport
- Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers, Florida)
The New York Times reported that ICE would be sent to 14 airports but did not provide a complete list.
ICE presence so far
Unlike the videos and photos from ICE operations across the US with agents hiding their faces with masks, images circulating of ICE in airports show them mostly unmasked.
Long waits at major airports remain a concern as passengers in Atlanta were still told to arrive at least four hours before flights with security lines stretching outside of the airport.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey turned off real-time trackers and warned passengers to arrive at least four hours early.
Wait times at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston remained more than four hours long.
Travel disruptions continue in the East Coast following the deadly collision on a runway at New York LaGuardia Airport Sunday night.
Interactions between travellers and agents appear limited at this point but videos of some passengers criticizing agents are spreading.
One video shows a young woman saying “Nazis don’t belong in America and they don’t belong in airports.”
National and foreign safety concerns
Even prior to Trump’s deployment of ICE in airports, over a dozen countries had issued government advisories regarding travel to the US following violent crackdowns on protesters, including multiple fatal shootings of citizens by Agents.
Advisories from countries including Germany, Canada, and the UK coupled with Trump’s entry-restriction on 75 countries leads to questions about the tourism economy, particularly approaching the World Cup 2026 this summer.
Travel to the US dropped 6% in 2025.
