As travelers experience chaos, lines trailing around terminals and federal immigration agents in major airports across the country, San Jose Mineta International Airport remains calm and void of agents.
Travelers breezed through security lines in San Jose Monday as President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to more than a dozen major airports, including Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport and New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Trump claims ICE agents — who were unmasked — were there to alleviate long lines amid Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staffing shortages due to the Department of Homeland Security budget standoff that has led to a partial shutdown.
While travelers at other U.S. airports are dealing with long lines federal immigration agents, the situation at San Jose Mineta International Airport is calm. Photo by Joyce Chu.
A spokesperson for the San Jose airport said they have not received any notification of ICE personnel coming.
“Thus far, operations and wait times have remained normal here at SJC during the partial government shutdown,” airport spokesperson Julie Jarratt told San José Spotlight.
Natalia Yamkovaya, 39, arrived at San Jose’s airport hours before her flight, worried it might be impacted by long TSA lines. To her surprise, the airport was relatively empty.
“It’s not what I expected,” Yamkovaya told San José Spotlight.
Natalia Yamkovaya arrived at SJC hours before her flight, worried that it might be impacted by TSA staffing shortages. To her surprise, the airport was relatively empty. Photo by Joyce Chu.
While TSA agent have gone without pay during the partial shutdown, ICE agents continue to be funded by the $75 billion it received through Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed last summer.
Santa Clara County resident Jane Winkler flew into San Jose Mineta International Airport on Monday from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. She encountered no issues at either airport, she said.
“It makes me feel great that ICE isn’t in this airport,” Winkler told San José Spotlight. “ICE is too intrusive now. I am of Hispanic heritage and I would like it if they don’t stop me. I don’t think they have a place here.”
Traveler Dustin Jolley, 47, said his experience at SJC was drastically different from his family members’ experience in the Houston airport. He received text messages from them about three-hour long waits and ICE agents fanning the airport. Wait times at some airports like Houston were up to six hours, according to news reports.
Jolley said he’s not opposed to ICE agents helping alleviate the crowding at airports, but he’s unsure if that’s what they are actually doing.
“With some of the controversy with ICE lately, it leaves you questioning some of their modus operandi,” he told San José Spotlight.
Yamkovaya said it’s upsetting to know ICE agents are being deployed to airports.
“(You) feel like you can’t leave your house because they can be anywhere, and it’s unfair,” she said. “The country of the free is no longer free because people have to hide.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.