Feds send ICE to O’Hare as spring break, TSA staffing shortages converge

Posted March 23, 2026 2:05 pm

Marni Pyke

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrived at O’Hare International Airport Monday, amid a surge of spring break travelers and TSA staffing shortages.

“O’Hare can expect an estimated deployment of approximately 75 ICE officers across multiple shifts beginning Monday,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

“We will closely monitor the deployment and use every tool we have to ensure that people, no matter their immigration status, can travel to and from Chicago safely and without harassment from the federal government,” the mayor said.

President Donald Trump ordered the deployment to major airports across the nation this weekend as the partial government shutdown drags on. The number of unpaid U.S. Transportation Security Administration agents absent from work hit a high of 3,450 on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported.

However, it was smooth sailing mid-morning Monday at Terminal 1, with security checkpoints moving fast.

“I got here super-early,” Mary Nicholson Beresid of Highland Park said. “I expected long lines after learning a friend’s daughter waited in line for 1½ hours for TSA screening Saturday.”

Chicago mom Kiley Peart and her 4-year-old daughter arrived over two hours ahead of their departure to Colorado. “We were a little bit worried. We normally don’t come this early,” she noted.

Spring break travelers hit a sweet spot at O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 1 mid-morning Monday with security screening moving fast. ICE officers are being deployed to O'Hare and other major airports amid TSA staffing shortages. Marni Pyke/mpyke@dailyherald.com

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis blamed Democrats in Congress for the shutdown.

“This pointless, reckless shutdown of our homeland security workforce has caused more than 400 TSA officers to quit and thousands to call out from work because they are not able to afford gas, child care, food, or rent,” said Bis, DHS public affairs assistant secretary.

“This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions,” Bis said, adding hundreds of officers had been sent to airports experiencing lengthy security lines.

Following DHS immigration raids and subsequent demonstrations in Chicago, Minnesota and elsewhere that resulted in the deaths of several protesters, “I have concerns about the deployment of federal agents at airports across the United States,” Johnson said.

He noted that, according to DHS, ICE officers at O’Hare will not be screening passengers. Instead, they will be monitoring exit lanes, making passenger announcements, helping to manage lines and “related activities to allow TSA officers to focus on passenger and baggage screening.”

Sunday represented the highest call-out rate of the shutdown, with more than 11.7% TSA agents not showing up, DHS reported. The three facilities hardest hit were Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Pittsburgh International Airport.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been unfunded since mid-February amid a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats, who are seeking immigration enforcement reforms.