United States: Immigration police deployed in major airports starting Monday.

Donald Trump threatened on Saturday to send ICE agents to airports as early as next week, where wait times can last for hours due to the lack of TSA personnel, who are not getting paid because of a partial government shutdown.

Priority at major airports

Speaking on CNN on Sunday morning, his immigration adviser Tom Homan confirmed that an unspecified number of immigration police officers would be deployed on Monday, with priority given to major airports where lines are longest, up to three hours.

According to Tom Homan, the goal is for officers to handle basic security tasks like monitoring exit doors, so that TSA agents can focus on specialized screening positions. “I don’t see an ICE agent overseeing an X-ray scanner, because they haven’t been trained for that,” he noted.

Since February 14, funding for the DHS, which oversees the TSA, has been frozen due to a deep rift between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over immigration police practices, which are highly controversial on the left.

Increasing resignations

Due to this partial shutdown, thousands of DHS federal employees have been furloughed, while thousands of others in essential roles continue to work without pay.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on ABC on Sunday that the situation would “get much worse” as time goes on, as more and more TSA agents “will resign or not show up to work” to seek other jobs to buy food and pay rent.