There are two federal agencies inside the Department of Homeland Security that matter right now. One of them received $75 billion in funding last year. The other can’t make payroll.
The first is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The second is the Transportation Security Administration. And on Saturday, President Trump announced his plan to fix the crisis at America’s airports — not by paying the workers who screen your bags, but by replacing them with the ones who don’t know how.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
The DHS shutdown is now in its 36th day. TSA officers have missed their first full paycheck. More than 366 have quit. At Houston’s Hobby Airport, more than half of scheduled staff called out on a single day. In Atlanta, a third of screeners were absent. Security lines have stretched past two hours — during spring break.
Union leader Mac Johnson told reporters that officers are facing eviction and losing utilities. Some are sleeping in their vehicles between shifts because they can’t afford the commute. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said what’s happening now will “look like child’s play” if another paycheck is missed. Officials have warned that smaller airports may close entirely.
The Replacement Plan
Into this, the president posted on Truth Social: “I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.” He told ICE to “GET READY” for Monday.
There’s one problem. ICE agents aren’t trained to screen passengers or luggage. TSA screeners undergo months of specialized certification before they can run a checkpoint. George Borek, a TSA officer and union steward in Atlanta, put it plainly: “What it takes to be a TSA officer, a certified officer, to be able to do screening takes weeks and months. The president can have them come there but I don’t see how that helps us.”
Trump’s post also specified that ICE operations at airports would include “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants,” with a “heavy emphasis on those from Somalia.”
The Funding Gap No One Is Explaining
ICE is not affected by the shutdown. It received its $75 billion through the reconciliation bill Trump signed last year. Fully operational, fully staffed, fully funded.
TSA is not. Its officers are classified as essential — required to show up to work, just not required to be paid while they do it.
Democrats have proposed funding TSA separately. Republicans have blocked it, insisting on a full DHS package. Democrats have refused to fund ICE without enforcement reforms — specifically after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot during an immigration operation in Minneapolis earlier this year. The result: the agency that arrests people at airports is flush with cash, and the agency that keeps airports running is starving.
The Billionaire Who Cut Federal Pay Now Wants to Cover It
That same Saturday morning, Elon Musk posted on X: “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse.” It’s unclear whether that’s even legal — federal law typically bars government workers from accepting outside pay connected to their official roles.
I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2026
But the offer is worth sitting with. This is the same Elon Musk who ran the Department of Government Efficiency for the first five months of Trump’s second term. DOGE’s mission was cutting the federal workforce — and it delivered. By the end of 2025, federal payrolls had dropped by roughly 9%. Musk appeared at CPAC holding a chainsaw. He sent mass emails demanding federal employees justify their jobs, then admitted the emails were a test to see if workers “had a pulse.”
Government spending rose nearly 6% during his tenure — the workers left, but the bill didn’t shrink. The workforce shrank by more than 250,000. And now the man who held a chainsaw to federal employment is offering to write personal checks to federal employees who can’t buy groceries.
What Monday Looks Like
No deal has been reached. TSA workers are set to miss their second full paycheck on March 27. Congress is scheduled to leave for a two-week Easter recess at the end of the month.
If no agreement comes by Monday, the president says ICE agents will be in the terminals. The people trained to keep airports safe will still be sleeping in their cars. The people sent to replace them won’t know how to operate a metal detector.
Nobody has explained how any of this makes airports safer.
