Trump asks ICE agents not to wear masks at airports, as TSA officer absences climb

(The Center Square) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are deploying to airports across the country starting Monday to assist with security efforts, with a request from President Donald Trump that they not wear masks. 

In a post to social media Monday, the president said he’s a “BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks” but requested that they not wear them while helping the Transportation Security Administration fill some gaps as the Department of Homeland Security funding bill continues to stall in Congress. 

“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.”

The president’s request marks a departure from one of the agency’s more controversial tactics it has used under the current administration as it has worked toward Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

ICE agents will only be assisting with airports' basic security needs, like "guarding airport entrances and exits," and not security line screenings, as The Center Square previously reported.

TSA employs tens of thousands of people and has lost more than 400 agents in the latest partial shutdown, after the record 43-day full government shutdown in the fall. However, in addition to those who have quit, “thousands” are calling out from work, according to Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the department.

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The shutdown is causing “thousands to call out from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent,” the department’s Lauren Bis said in a statement.

In fact, on Sunday, more than 3,450 TSA officers called out from work, the most of any day of the shutdown so far, Bis told The Center Square in an email.

Multiple outlets reported on where ICE agents were being deployed on Monday, including ABC News, which listed 14 major airports across the country, including airports in Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, New Orleans and New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. The Center Square reached out to ICE but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

New Orleans’ and Atlanta’s main airports had call-out rates of more than 40% on Sunday, followed by Houston, Baltimore and JFK with call-out rates over 37%, according to Bis.

Many who work for TSA, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and other agencies within the DHS are going without pay due to the department’s funding bill stalling in Congress for more than a month. Though ICE is also a DHS agency, the One Big Beautiful Bill has enabled them to continue to receive funding.