ICE agents deployed to Atlanta airport as shutdown drives long waits

by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

March 23, 2026

Armed federal agents decked out in tactical gear patrolled the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday as a continuing partial government shutdown creates long delays at major airports nationwide.

The agents were not involved with security screenings or immigration enforcement but were intended to provide security in an effort to bolster Transportation Security Administration employees who have been working without pay since the shutdown began in mid-February.

More than 40% of TSA agents at the Atlanta airport called out on Monday, part of nearly 3,500 agents who called out nationwide, nearly 12% of the nationwide workforce.

The shutdown affects the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard as well as the TSA. Democrats, including Georgia U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, have refused to vote for funding to DHS without measures to rein in ICE after high profile shooting deaths of citizens in Minneapolis led to massive protests over the agency’s immigration enforcement tactics.

ICE agents are being paid through the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act that passed last year.

Senate Democrats say they have offered legislation to partially fund DHS, which would allow TSA and other workers to be paid while negotiations over ICE continue, but they’ve been blocked by Republicans.

In a statement, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the city will monitor the situation and expressed hope that the federal government will end the shutdown so TSA agents can get paid.

“Atlanta remains committed to ensuring that residents and travelers feel safe, informed, and supported as they move through the world’s busiest and most efficient airport,” he said.

In a statement, the president of the union that represents TSA officers said putting untrained officers in place of trained agents will not solve the problem.

“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” said Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be. Congress has the power to fund TSA today. It’s time for them to stop playing politics and do their jobs.”

Back and forth

Among the frustrated travelers at the Atlanta airport Monday was Republican Congressman Buddy Carter, who is running for Senate against Ossoff along with fellow GOP Congressman Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley.

Carter was arriving from Washington, where he said he waited in line for two hours to board his flight, and he’s expecting an even longer wait when he flies back on Tuesday.

“I probably ought to just stay here tonight to make sure I get on my flight,” he joked.

Carter said he puts the blame for those long waits squarely on the shoulders of Ossoff and other Democrats and called for DHS to be fully funded.

“We need to get the whole thing funded,” he said.” We need to get this political ploy over with.”

Democrats say Republicans are the ones playing political games.

“Senate Democrats have called for funding TSA for weeks, and Republicans have blocked it every step of the way because they are taking orders from Donald Trump,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey. “We could pay TSA agents and end the chaos at airports across the country if Republicans like Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, and Derek Dooley told their Party to quit standing in the way and get it done.”

The wait

Carter navigated the airport in a suit and tie, but casual wear was the order of the day for most of the hundreds of people waiting in hours-long lines inside the airport.

Parents tried to soothe antsy babies with bottles and pacifiers, older children bored of their iPads ran laps around suitcases and travelers of all ages pulled out their phones to snap photos of the big crowds and the ICE agents.

Atlanta airport officials told travelers to prepare for at least four-hour wait times to get through security Monday.

Marjorie Williams and her husband Abdul Bakare arrived a little over four hours early for their flight to Austin. They said they were taking the long wait in stride and trying to stay positive, but were slightly annoyed that they had to scramble their day to arrive extra early and stand in line.

Williams said she sympathizes with the TSA agents who have gone more than a month without pay, but she doesn’t like seeing ICE agents patrolling the airport either.

“I think it’s a stupid idea,” she said. “It’s not nice to be able to pay them and not the TSA agents.”

Celena Jeanbaptiste and sister Jowey Saye arrived a little after noon for their 4 p.m. flight back home to Florida and said they were hopeful they’d be able to catch it.

Jeanbaptiste said she’ll reconsider her next trip.

“Why is (Trump) putting them at the airport? It’s just kind of scary, because everywhere you see ICE agents and you see police, it’s just sad now. It makes me not want to fly anymore,” she said.

Others were more positive, like Beth Dockter,  a fundraiser from Atlanta, who was waiting to catch a flight to Rochester, New York.

Dockter waved to and thanked a group of federal agents as they walked past her spot in a priority check-in line.

“I think that’s great that they’re here,” she said. “I think that it’s great that they’re helping protect everybody in line and keeping everybody in line. And I think it’s a great opportunity for them to show the world that they are actually really great people trying to do great things.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.