Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is one of a handful of U.S. airports suddenly dealing with ICE agents walking the terminals, a pretty unusual sight and a clear sign things aren’t normal.
On March 23, 2026, these federal agents arrived at more than a dozen big airports, including RSW in Fort Myers, to help the TSA, which was stretched thin by a government shutdown.
With the Department of Homeland Security unfunded for five weeks, TSA officers have been working for free, and a wave of sick calls and quits is hitting hard. Over 400 officers quit since February, just as spring break crowds are flooding in.
Locally, RSW stood out as the only Florida airport to see this kind of ICE deployment. But these ICE agents aren’t jumping in to screen passengers. They’re not trained for it, so their actual job is keeping lines moving, watching exits, and managing crowds so TSA staff can focus on scanning travelers. President Trump summed it up: “We put ICE in charge—they’re helping TSA agents, taking over non-specialized security functions.”
Even with the extra bodies, travelers across the country are stuck waiting for hours in security lines. The long security lines frustrate travelers. Union representatives also voiced discontent, arguing that armed ICE agents are not a substitute for TSA screeners.
One traveler waiting for pre-check said, “It’s surreal. You expect TSA in blue, not ICE in tactical gear.” Some folks hoped the extra bodies would actually speed things up. Others, especially the airline staff, were worried. Training prepares ICE agents for immigration enforcement, not airport security.
TSA agents are experiencing burnout, and nearly 12 percent of staff recently failed to report to work, which is the highest rate since the shutdown began. If you’re flying out of Southwest Florida, you need to plan ahead, get to the airport two or three hours early, and brace for uncertainty.
Meanwhile, Washington is grid locked, and nobody knows when it’ll end. There’s talk President Trump could bring in the National Guard if things stay stuck. For now, ICE agents patrolling RSW is just one snapshot of a country that can’t agree on a budget, and the chaos is spilling right into travelers’ everyday lives.
Acting DHS assistant secretary Lauren Bis said they needed ICE to help travelers facing hours-long waits, but union leaders just called the whole thing a “Band-Aid.” The real problem was the political stalemate: no funding, no pay, no end in sight.
