Trump Says No DHS Funding Without SAVE Act; Deploys ICE To Snarled Airports

Federal immigration agents on Monday showed up to several major airports to help TSA agents manage long lines amid a showdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Transportation Security Administration. 

The move comes after President Trump floated the idea over the weekend, which was echoed by border czar Tom Homan in a Sunday CNN interview. 

“President Trump is using every tool available to help American travelers who are facing hours-long lines at airports across the country—especially during this spring break and holiday season that is very important for many American families,” Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told The Epoch Times, confirming that hundreds of ICE officers were being deployed to help manage the long lines. 

Meanwhile, President Trump on Sunday said that Congress should not pass DHS funding until Democrats get on board with the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote. 

As the Epoch Times notes further, in an evening post on Truth Social, the president said that Republicans in Congress should not make “any deal” with Democrats over funding DHS until the SAVE America Act is passed with Democratic support. DHS has remained unfunded since Feb. 13, leading to some Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shortfalls at major U.S. airports.

The passage of the SAVE America Act, Trump stated on social media, is “far more important than anything else” on the Senate’s agenda, including funding for DHS. Earlier this month, Trump said he wouldn’t sign any other measure passed until Congress approves the voting bill.

The measure also should include “their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender mutilization of our precious children,” Trump wrote.

The bill currently lacks the 60 votes needed ​to overcome Democratic opposition in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats. Meanwhile, the GOP has resisted Democratic lawmakers’ demands for reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including mandating that they wear masks, as a ​condition of DHS funding.

In his social media post, Trump also called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to “clearly identify” Republicans who may vote against the SAVE America Act, also called the SAVE Act, and added that those GOP lawmakers “will never be elected again.” 

Republicans should kill the legislative filibuster and stay in Washington during the Easter holiday “if necessary,” Trump said.

Trump this weekend confirmed he would put ICE agents in airports until Democratic lawmakers agree to a DHS budget bill. Video and photos uploaded online showed that ICE agents were already being seen at the airports on Monday morning.

Proponents of the Save America Act, including Trump, have argued that it would help deter voter fraud and have asserted that there are large numbers of people who are in the country illegally who vote ⁠in ​U.S. elections.

Democrats and other critics of the bill have argued that ​it could disenfranchise Americans who lack ready access to passports, birth certificates, and other forms of identification. The left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice and the University of Maryland have estimated that around 21 million Americans lack ready access to such documentation.

An opinion article by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) published in The New York Times on Sunday criticized some of Trump’s arguments and suggested the bill is a thinly veiled attempt for Republicans to win the 2026 midterm elections.

“Republicans like to pretend that the SAVE Act is a voter ID bill. Though on the surface it appears to be one, something far more insidious lies beneath: a system for purging eligible voters from the electorate—voters who are disproportionately likely to vote against Republicans,” he wrote.

Polls have shown that a vast majority of Americans support mandating photo ID to vote in elections. A Pew Research poll released last year showed that 83 percent of U.S. adults support having all voters show a government-issued form of identification, and only 16 percent opposed it. That includes 71 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of black voters, the poll found.

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