Trump’s ultimatum to Democrats: Reopen DHS or I’ll send ICE enforcers to airports

President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to Democrats who have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, using that leverage to try to force the Republican party to impose drastic new restrictions on federal law enforcement agents working on Trump’s plan to enforce the nation’s border and immigration laws.

He said, without a plan to reopen DHS, which includes Transportation Security Administration officers at airports, he’ll send in ICE.

That would be Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who are being funded.

“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota. I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” he said.

BREAKING: President Trump just dropped the hammer on Democrats amid the DHS shutdown chaos!

“If Radical Left Democrats don’t IMMEDIATELY reopen DHS and end the airport nightmare, I’ll surge our brilliant, patriotic ICE agents to airports nationwide to handle security—better… pic.twitter.com/aptzBzFPTZ

— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) March 21, 2026

Some 50,000 TSA workers have been forced to work without pay for a month because of the Democrats’ refusal to fund their paychecks.

They are considered essential, so must work even without pay.

Democrats have issued a long list of demands, including that federal agents come under the thumb of local judges who could be taking part in the political agenda against Trump’s national security goal.

The Washington Examiner said the details about such a program weren’t released immediately.

According to the Hill, “Democrats are holding firm in their demands to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics — calls which grew louder following the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents carrying out the president’s deportation agenda in Minneapolis last month.”

And it explained Trump’s reference to Somalia: “The Somali community has been in the administration’s crosshairs for months in part due to a massive COVID-19 pandemic-era fraud scandal, also in Minnesota. He also made several divisive remarks about immigrants from the country in his State of the Union address last month, prompting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to shout ‘liar’ at him in the chamber.”

The TSA has become a hot button topic in the fight as security checkpoints at airports are becoming longer and longer because of staffing shortages there.

Trump, in another social media statement, added, “The Radical Left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace.

“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!”