White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt faced questions Wednesday regarding the deployment of immigration officers to major airports. She was asked whether deportations will decline while ICE agents assist with security and staffing shortages. President Donald Trump recently deployed between 100 and 150 ICE agents to help mitigate the shortage of TSA personnel.
The staffing crisis was triggered by the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese asked Leavitt about the tradeoffs of having ICE in the airports right now. "Do you expect deportations to decrease while ICE is in the airports and what are the tradeoffs of having ICE in the airports right now?" Reese asked.
Leavitt responded by placing the blame for the travel disruptions squarely on Senate Democrats. "To address this obviously short-term problem and the chaos that has been sowed by these Democrats on Capitol Hill, to address the lines and to get Americans traveling and get them to where they need to be, so the president thinks this was a creative solution," Leavitt said. She noted that while wait times have decreased, the administration hopes they will improve further over the coming days.
Senate Democrats partially shut down the DHS in February over immigration enforcement disputes. They demanded a list of reforms, including prohibiting ICE agents from racial profiling and wearing masks, in exchange for funding the department. Meanwhile, hundreds of TSA agents have quit their positions since the shutdown began, raising serious concerns about terror enforcement.
Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman broke ranks to become the only member of his party to support the full-year appropriations bill for the DHS. Fetterman criticized his fellow Democrats for preventing TSA agents from getting paid. This came in response to an offer by Elon Musk to cover the salaries of the unpaid security personnel.
Despite the presence of ICE agents at the airports, the travel situation remains highly stressful for many Americans. Passengers have reported waiting in security lines for up to six hours according to recent reports. The administration continues to defend the deployment as a necessary step to restore order amidst the legislative gridlock.