White House Border Czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s television program on March 23, 2026, where he stated that federal immigration officers who are now being deployed to airports to help with security lines as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues to go without funding will be making arrests of illegal aliens.
For reference, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began providing TSA officers, who are working without pay, with assistance at several airports across the United States on Monday, March 23. The night before then, Sunday the 22nd, two illegal aliens were arrested by ICE officers in the San Francisco airport, which caused a leftist freakout.
“We’re going to arrest criminals going through the airport. We’re going to look for human trafficking, sex trafficking, money smuggling. We’re going to be at the airports, working with our brothers and sisters from TSA,” Border Czar Homan told show host Sean Hannity when commenting on the ICE deployment to the airports.
The shutdown, and related lack of pay, is nevertheless placing a major burden on TSA. Over 400 TSA officers have opted to quit the agency since the Department of Homeland Security shut down on Feb. 14, 2026, while callout rates have soared. Wait times have increased exponentially, now taking four hours to get through some security checkpoints.
In several recent interviews, Homan has stated that federal immigration officials will not be directly assisting with security screenings, but will relieve TSA officers in other areas, such as entry and exit lanes to security checkpoints, which allows them to focus on screenings and getting passengers through airports.
In any case, ICE remaining on the lookout for arrest opportunities at airports is nothing new. According to The Hill, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has already been conducting operations to crack down on human trafficking and money smuggling at airports.
“Remember, most of the major airports have Customs and Border Protection there because a lot of international travelers come in,” Homan went on to say during an interview on “Cuomo Mornings,” for example. He added, on that same point, “So, we do have a presence there already.”
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Lead TSA officer and union leader Cameron Cochems appeared on “CNN News Central” where he said that a number of agents believe ICE officers are making things worse, not better. “At the end of the day, all our officers care about is getting paid,” he said to host Boris Sanchez. “Having ICE agents and officers at our airports, they’re going to be sitting at exits, they’re going to be doing things that they can’t be trained to do. The best thing they can do for us, is if they do come to the airports, is to buy us food and lunches.”
Leftists are not thrilled with ICE being present and making immigration-related arrests either. Federal immigration officers arrested a woman and her daughter in San Francisco International Airport over the weekend, taking them into custody at the secure area of Terminal 3. The mother-daughter duo were issued a removal order to be sent back to Guatemala, officials said.
The official X account for DHS identified the two detainees as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Lopez. The post then referred to the two individuals as “illegal aliens,” written in all caps, and revealing that the final removal orders were issued by an immigration judge in 2019. As the two were being escorted to the international terminal for processing, DHS said Lopez-Jimenez tried to escape and “resisted law enforcement officers.”
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) stated she was “deeply angered” by footage of the incident. “This is our neighbor and a member of our community,” Matsui complained, saying she is investigating the circumstances surrounding the arrest. In the video clip of the arrest, an individual can be heard saying in the background, “This is un-American.” The person recording the video then asked for the ICE agent’s badge number.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video