STORY: :: Chuck Schumer says deploying ICE agents in airports is 'a terrible idea that could backfire'
:: Washington, D.C./ March 23, 2026
:: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) Senate Minority Leader
"Everywhere ICE goes, trouble follows. We've seen that. And it is highly likely the airports will be no exception. No one trusts that ICE is gonna make things better. Patrolling airports is not in ICE's job description. It's certainly not what they're trained to do."
"So, Donald Trump, the more you keep ICE agents at our airports, the more you will be reminding people of how much chaos and fear ICE has already caused. It's a terrible idea that could backfire on the country and on Donald Trump."
Schumer made the comments after armed immigration agents were dispatched to major airports. Passengers have endured hours-long lines in a system strained by personnel shortages due to high absentee rates among Transportation Security Administration employees who have gone without pay for more than a month.
Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security without new curbs on immigration agents, who have killed U.S. citizens and sparked public outrage during their crackdown.
White House immigration czar Tom Homan has said agents had been deployed to 14 airports, in cities including New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.
Authorities said the agents would provide crowd control, but Trump said they could also make arrests - raising concerns that the chaotic raids that have played out on the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere might come to the nation's airports as well.
