Are ICE agents going to CLT airport? What we know about deployments, TSA wait
While the Trump administration dispatched ICE agents to 13 major airports on Monday, Charlotte has been skipped over — for now.
ICE agents are at the terminals to help the Transportation Security Administration during a partial government shutdown that’s making passengers wait up to several hours in some security line checkpoints because of staffing shortages. Many federal employees, including TSA officers, are required to work without pay.
ICE was previously in Charlotte in force last fall. The U.S. Border Patrol’s November deployment, known as “Operation Charlotte Web,” was met with pushback and multiple protests from residents.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is not aware of any ICE agents being deployed at the airport, according to a statement from the airport Monday. The airport did not disclose additional information, including whether it has been contacted by ICE about potential deployment to the city-owned airport, one of the busiest in the world.
When asked by a reporter Monday about the possibility of “arresting illegal migrants” at airports, President Donald Trump said, “Yeah. That’s why the Democrats are going crazy. ICE loves it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. It’s very fertile territory.”
ICE is in these airports around the country
ICE is at the following airports, CNN reported:
- Atlanta: Hartsfield-Jackson
- Chicago: O’Hare International
- Cleveland: Hopkins International
- Fort Myers: Southwest Florida International
- Houston: William P. Hobby
- New Orleans: Louis Armstrong International
- New York/Newark: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty
- Philadelphia: Philadelphia International
- Phoenix: Sky Harbor International
- Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh International
- San Juan, Puerto Rico: Luis Muñoz Marín International
Meanwhile, both political parties continue to blame the other for the partial government shutdown.
More than 400 TSA officers have quit and thousands more called out from work during the partial government shutdown, said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs, with the Department of Homeland Security.
Wait times at CLT airport
Meanwhile, reported wait times were less than 10 minutes at CLT as noon.
Travelers at other airports were not as lucky. At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the wait time Monday morning for TSA lines was three hours long, according to a CNN tracker of airport wait times.
Passengers can check real-time standard security and TSA PreCheck wait times at cltairport.com/airport-info/security.
Across the country, Saturday had the highest rate of call-outs by TSA agents since the partial shutdown began, ABC News reported, and CLT was among the airports with a call-out rate of over 20%.
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 10:33 AM.
