WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump escalated the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding crisis Saturday by threatening to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to assume airport security duties unless Democrats immediately resolve the budgetary impasse.
The President issued his ultimatum via his Truth Social platform, declaring he would reposition “brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before” if opposition lawmakers failed to “immediately sign an agreement.”
This development follows Friday’s Senate rejection of a House-approved funding bill for DHS, marking the latest failure in bipartisan negotiations over immigration enforcement policies that have paralyzed budgetary proceedings for over five weeks.
The funding lapse has created severe operational challenges at transportation hubs nationwide since February 14, when congressional authorization expired for DHS agencies including the Transportation Security Administration. Approximately 50,000 TSA officers have consequently worked without pay for more than a month, leading to dramatically increased security wait times exceeding three hours at major airports including Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans.
Republican legislators continue advocating for comprehensive DHS funding while Democratic counterparts push for standalone appropriations that would exclude immigration enforcement operations from the budgetary package. The fundamental disagreement over immigration policy has prevented any meaningful progress in negotiations throughout the five-week deadlock.