WASHINGTON, March 24, 2026: With wait times to pass security at airports stretching for up to four hours, there are signs that Congress may be close to ending the latest federal government shutdown. The Trump administration has deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to help with airport security to address travelers’ growing impatience with the long lines. But passengers are complaining that the ICE agents aren’t helping much.
As of this morning, ICE agents have been reported at 14 major airports across the country including Houston’s Bush and William P Hobby airport. Agents have also been observed at Chicago, LaGuardia and Newark, among others including Puerto Rico’s San Juan airport.
A partial federal government shutdown began on February 14 when Congress failed to vote on the last pending funding bill for the federal government. The Democrats have refused to vote to fund the remaining funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until three ICE reform measures are implemented. Although the target is ICE agents, the funding bill mostly affects employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who provide security at the airports.
The Democrats are demanding the removal of facemasks for ICE agents when conducting immigration enforcement operations, the use of judicial warrants and a code of conduct before they agree to vote on the last funding bill.
Unpaid TSA officers have resorted to calling in sick after missing their first full paycheck. On March 17, nearly 10% of TSA workers called in sick across the nation with as many as 40% missing work in Atlanta, Houston and Georgia. At Houston’s Bush Airport, passengers are resorting to arriving the night before their flights and sleeping in the terminals to avoid missing flights.
End In Sight?
Republican Senators now believe they have a plan to end the TSA quagmire, after meeting with the president yesterday. The working plan is to fund DHS apart from ICE.
The proposed reconciliation bill faced a roadblock last week when the Trump administration demanded that the Democrats also agree to pass the SAVE America Act.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act is pending before the Senate after the House adopted it last February. The legislation seeks to ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote by requiring proof of citizenship at the polls before the voter can cast a ballot.
The legislation does away with mail-in and online voter registration, requiring voters to register to vote in person. It also requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and mandates strict photo identification at the polls. Critics contend that the legislation is being used as a voter suppression tool arguing that documenting citizenship is hampered by name-changes – as is often the case with married women – access to suitable records to prove citizenship among the young and older Americans.
Republicans need 60 votes to pass the voting legislation.
The GOP now believes that the Trump administration is open to allowing the funding vote to move forward without including the SAVE America Act. This would allow a measure to be voted on that funds TSA and other federal agencies while keeping additional ICE funding out.
Democrats have been rebuffed by the Republicans on several attempts to fund TSA and other pending federal agencies with legislation that did not include funding for ICE, so that a separate vote on their demands for ICE can be had.
Adding to the lack of funding issue is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who has been losing support from Democrats, according to the Wall Street Journal. Democrats have grown weary of Schumer’s negotiating style. Also driving the opposition to Schumer is dissatisfaction by some Democrats over the party leadership because they feel Schumer is keeping younger more progressive Democrats out of the party apparatus.
The Senate will convene this afternoon to consider the option to fund DHS along with TSA while excluding the pending funding for ICE.
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Cover photograph credit: Demetric Blyther, Photograph of unnamed TSA officer at Baltimore, Maryland security checkpoint, March 4, 2025, Transportation Security Administration.
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