Start Here Have an ICE Flight: Trump’s Plan for Airport Lines
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Mar 23, 2026 Colonel Stephen Ganyard, a former Marine and State Department official now an ABC contributor; Tom Sufi Burridge, ABC foreign correspondent covering the Middle East; and Sam Sweeney, ABC lead transportation producer, discuss worsening airport security lines due to TSA staffing gaps. They debate using ICE for checkpoint work, assess U.S.-Iran tensions around strikes on energy infrastructure, and weigh escalation and civilian-risk concerns.
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Unpaid TSA Paychecks Are Driving Local Airport Crises
- Airport security lines have worsened because TSA agents are unpaid during the DHS partial shutdown.
- Sam Sweeney cites 9–11.5% overall call-out but massive local spikes: 47% at Houston Hobby, 42% at Bush, 34% in New Orleans, 33% in Atlanta.
ICE Agents Can’t Replace TSA Screeners
- The plan to use ICE agents to relieve airport lines is vague and likely limited to nontechnical tasks.
- Sam Sweeney and Tom Holman say ICE could man doors or relieve non-screening posts, but they lack X‑ray and behavioral detection training.
Pay TSA Agents To Fix Lines Not Reassign Others
- The TSA union urges a simple fix: pay TSA officers to return to work.
- The union warns ICE substitution is inadequate and the practical remedy is restoring pay and staffing, not reassigning untrained agents.