TSA chaos could continue through Easter after Trump issues holiday 'threat'
Despite Republicans controlling the House, the Senate, and the White House, political leaders still cannot make a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
As the DHS shutdown crossed into week five, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered Donald Trump a deal to fund all divisions within the department other than ICE.
Thune offered Trump a package that Democrats would back, as well as a handful of Republicans, per Punchbowl News.
The President reportedly rejected the offer, which would have funded TSA, stopped chaos at airports, and still not given in to top Democrat demands such as banning immigration agents from wearing masks.
Trump has also stated that he wants lawmakers to forgo their upcoming two-week Easter break, adding that he would shame lawmakers for going on vacation.
He even said he would host GOP senators and their families at the White House for Easter if they can't get a deal together.
It's a thinly veiled 'threat' in the eyes of some lawmakers who want to celebrate the religious holiday with their families at home, per Punchbowl.
In a Sunday night Truth Social post, Trump called for the passage of the SAVE Act, which would require voter ID, urging lawmakers to 'stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.'
President Donald Trump at an event at the White House on Thursday, March 5, 2026
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, talks to reporters about a funding bill to end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown that began more than a month ago, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, March 23, 2026
Trump also noted in an earlier Sunday morning post on Truth Social that he would be sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports to help address the chaos.
'On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all,' Trump noted.
'But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!!! President DJT,' he added.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026 in New York City
Passengers wait in long TSA security screening checkpoint lines inside the domestic terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 23, 2026
Homan told CNN's State of the Union anchor Dana Bash on Sunday 'that ICE agents receive a high level of training. And ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already. They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigation on smuggling at airports.'
'You got TSA agents covering exits, people that enter through the exits. Certainly, a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit and makes sure people don't go through those exits, entering the airport through the exits. And stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines,' Homan added.
Homan appears to be Trump's go-to fixer for all things DHS, as the agency does not currently have a secretary at the helm.
Trump's nominee for DHS Secretary, Markwayne Mullin, is expected to pass a confirmation vote on Monday evening.
