The ICE officers Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) previously derided are now assisting short-staffed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the partial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown continues to disrupt travel.
At a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Ossoff described ICE officers as “roving gangs of masked men” who “look like they couldn’t pass the army physical exam” and are “dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators.”
Ossoff has voted multiple times against Republican-backed DHS funding measures because Democrats have demanded restrictions on ICE funding, even though ICE was already funded under provisions passed by Congress in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Jon Ossoff never misses a chance to smear and attack ICE, even forcing TSA agents to work without paychecks and stranding Georgians at the airport. Now that these ICE agents are stepping in to clean up the chaos his shutdown created, Ossoff should apologize for his disgusting comments and show his face at Hartsfield-Jackson,” RNC spokeswoman Emma Hall told Breitbart News.
About 60,000 TSA agents have gone nearly two months without paychecks during the shutdown. More than 500 TSA agents have quit, while callouts at Hartsfield-Jackson have reached 41.5 percent. The staffing shortages have contributed to multi-hour security lines that have stranded travelers in Atlanta.
On March 24, ICE officers arrived at more than a dozen airports nationwide to assist TSA agents with crowd control, line management, and identification checks. Hartsfield-Jackson was among the airports where lines became noticeably shorter after the officers began assisting short-staffed TSA personnel.
“It is exponentially different here today than it was this time yesterday, over the weekend. As you can see, there is a very short line right now,” a Fox Business reporter said.
“We’ve been seeing these ICE agents out here today managing lines, helping with crowd control … the lines have been a little bit better the last few hours,” a Fox News reporter stated.
CNN remarked that travelers responded favorably to the presence of the officers, noting, “A lot of folks are saying they’re very pleasant.”
One traveler at Hartsfield-Jackson said, “They’re here doing a job, just like TSA. Bless their hearts.”
Similar conditions emerged at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers arrived after security lines reached four hours. Within about twenty minutes, a second screening lane opened, and wait times that had stretched five to six hours dropped to less than an hour.
One ICE officer said, “We are happy to be helping to provide some relief to passengers and the TSA agents who are not currently being paid due to the Democrats withholding funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” though he added that agents “would much rather be doing the job we are trained and paid to do,” removing criminal illegal aliens.
President Donald Trump praised ICE officers assisting travelers and, on March 27, signed a memorandum directing DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and OMB Director Russ Vought to use funds with a “reasonable and logical nexus” to TSA operations to pay TSA employees during the shutdown. Trump has also urged Congress to return from recess and fully reopen DHS, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying he wants lawmakers back in Washington to permanently resolve the crisis and accusing Democrats of “holding our entire country hostage” over demands to restrict ICE funding.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) highlighted Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-CA) criticism of ICE officers assisting at airports, posting on X: “A disgraced Eric Swalwell makes a mockery out of American lives taken by illegals.” Swalwell said on CNN, “If there’s such a problem of violent immigrants in our country, why were they able to put thousands of ICE agents in our airports to hand out bottles of water?” Swalwell’s remarks came as reports emerged that FBI Director Kash Patel wants officials to release investigative files concerning Swalwell and alleged Chinese spy Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang. Swalwell responded by claiming, “Donald Trump is targeting me.”
