ICE agents are at airports to help TSA ease travel woes. Here’s what we know about their deployment

By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — Across some of the nation’s busiest airports on Monday, groups of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surveyed what felt like never-ending security lines, some directing confused travelers while others silently supervised with their thumbs tucked into the sides of their tactical vests.

Hundreds of ICE agents were deployed to 14 airports on Monday as part of the Trump administration’s effort to mitigate painful travel delays that have resulted from a Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Fliers have faced hourslong waits and lines snaking out of airports as hundreds of TSA employees have quit and thousands more have called out of work after going weeks without pay.

But while the ICE agents – who are being paid – were spotted in Atlanta, New York, Houston, Chicago and others cities on Monday, officials have said they are limited in what duties they can perform: They are not trained, for example, to operate the understaffed security checkpoints that are often the source of delays.

Instead, White House Border Czar Tom Homan said they will assist with simpler tasks, ideally freeing up more TSA employees to perform critical and specialized security work.

While airports in Atlanta and Houston have seen hourslong TSA wait times, travelers at LaGuardia Airport in New York were not even able to get into security lines until Monday afternoon, after a fatal collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck closed the airport overnight.

As travelers and CNN crews observed federal agents roving through several airports on Monday, it was at times unclear what tasks they were assigned to carry out.

Even so, Homan said more airports may see an ICE presence in the coming days. Here’s what we know.

ICE will allow TSA to focus on security screenings, Homan says

Mounting TSA employee callouts have crippled US airports that rely on the government employees for security, as an influx of spring break travelers wheel their suitcases through the doors.

Some airports have been forced to dramatically cut down on the number of security checkpoints as an increasing number of TSA employees haven’t shown up to work.

At the world’s busiest travel hub, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 41% of TSA workers called out on Sunday. Similar numbers were reported at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where passengers waited in line for as many as four hours the following day. More than a third also called out at airports in Baltimore, New York and New Orleans on Sunday.

While ICE agents are not trained to perform security screenings, Homan said they could relieve TSA employees of other tasks, like monitoring exits and crowd control, and allow them to be redirected to specialized screening work.

“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine,” Homan told Dana Bash on Sunday. He noted agents will not be asked to perform tasks they do not have expertise in.

“Not trained in that? We won’t do that,” the border czar said.

Homan pointed out that ICE agents’ presence in airports is not new. They “are assigned at many airports across the country already,” where they perform criminal investigations and immigration enforcement, he said.

John Pistole, a former TSA administrator and former FBI deputy director, said agents may also provide a more conspicuous security presence to deter criminals who may hope to take advantage of the chaos. He noted increased safety concerns amid the war in Iran.

“Hopefully they could be a visible deterrent to a potential terrorist who may want to go in and make a name for themselves” while all eyes are on US airports, Pistole said.

While major airports have their own police forces, these agencies may be “stretched thin” by airport crowds, Pistole added. In Atlanta, city police officers who were working at the airport Monday told CNN their days off had been canceled and they have been working 12-hour shifts.

Agents’ roles are still coming into focus

As President Donald Trump announced Saturday afternoon that he wanted ICE in airports, DHS officials raced to formulate a plan for deployment. And as agents arrived at airports Monday morning, their roles sometimes seemed unclear to onlookers.

In the Atlanta airport, ICE had a constantly visible presence but did not appear to be helping with check-ins or directing crowds, according to CNN’s Ryan Young. One group observed by a CNN producer appeared to spend several hours largely talking amongst themselves, wandering the floor and getting something to eat.

Houston airport officials noted in a statement that their security screening procedures would not change. They added “decisions regarding ICE personnel and their roles are made at the federal level.”

“They’ve been kind of standing around the edges, clearly not involved in helping process the thousands of passengers trying to make their way through here,” CNN’s Ed Lavandera reported from Houston. “It’s not exactly clear how they’re helping, how they’re alleviating the pressure that this airport is under.”

A flier passing through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport said he did not see ICE agents offering hands-on help, but he felt their presence encouraged the security process to go more smoothly. Sometimes, he saw agents directing travelers who asked where they needed to go.

“I don’t think they were necessarily doing anything to help, but it just kind of made the process feel like it was flowing a little bit better than what I had seen on the news,” said James Wold.

Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern that ICE’s presence will make some travelers nervous and have questioned how much the agency will be able to help. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker on Monday lamented that all he has seen agents doing is “roaming around.”

DHS, however, said in a statement Monday the federal presence will “help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions.”

Immigration enforcement is still on the table

Though ICE agents will be stepping into unfamiliar roles by assisting travelers, they will not be leaving immigration enforcement duties at the door, Homan said.

“We do immigration enforcement at airports all the time,” Homan told CNN Sunday. “Is that going to change? It’s not going to change.”

Trump said Monday that federal immigration officers will conduct arrests of undocumented immigrants, but hedged it is not their priority while deployed.

“They love it, because they’re able to arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory, but that’s not why they’re there; they’re really there to help,” Trump told reporters.

ICE has previously conducted immigration arrests at airports. Just a day before ICE agents were sent to aid TSA, two people were arrested by federal agents at the San Francisco International Airport. DHS said the pair was in the US illegally and had a 2019 order of removal.

At the behest of Trump, agents have been forgoing the masks they often wear to shield their identities when detaining people on the streets. Among the points of dispute over DHS funding is whether immigration agents should be prohibited from wearing masks.

Trump on Monday said he supports agents masking, but believed it was not an “appropriate look” for interacting with people at airports.

“For purposes of the airport, I’ve requested that they take off the mask,” Trump said. “And I believe they are willing to do that.”

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CNN’s Ryan Young, Ed Lavandera, Leigh Waldman, Joel Williams, Aaron Cooper, Sabrina Castro, Priscilla Alvarez, Kit Maher and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.