US Border Czar Tom Homan announced on Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will remain in airports until their operations return to '100% normal' as the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues. 'We're going to continue the presence of ICE there until the airports are at 100% to be in a position where they can do normal operations,' Homan warned in an interview with CBS's 'Face The Nation' program. The official justified the ICE deployment for security reasons, ordered by US President Donald Trump in airports, due to the high rate of absences from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, who have gone nearly a month and a half without pay because of the DHS shutdown. At least 460 TSA agents, who are not being paid during the shutdown, have resigned, while the average daily absence rate for these officials is 11%, which exceeds 50% at some airports, the agency's acting administrator, Ha Nguyen McNeill, warned Congress on Wednesday. Homan stated that 'if fewer TSA agents come back' to work after the shutdown, 'that means more ICE agents will remain' in the airports. 'ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters at the TSA. We'll be there as long as you need us until they get back to normal operations, if you want those airports to be safe,' the official insisted.
