ICE agents sent to ATL and other big airports but not to Charlotte. How come?
ICE agents were dispatched to over a dozen major airports around the country on Monday to help understaffed TSA agents, but not to Charlotte’s — despite its status as one of the world’s busiest.
Due to a partial government shutdown that started on Feb.14, the Trump administration made the decision amid long lines and wait times for passengers at many airports around the country, although Charlotte Douglas International Airport has experienced few delays.
TSA agents are required to work without pay, and many have been calling out sick during the shutdown, as Democrats and Republicans blame each other for the chaos. ICE agents were sent to 13 airports including in Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson was the closest airport to CLT for the ICE deployments.
ICE had a heavy presence in Charlotte last fall. A U.S. Border Patrol deployment in November, called “Operation Charlotte Web,” drew criticism from residents and multiple protests.
Shutdown fuels TSA call-outs nationwide
When asked by The Charlotte Observer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not provide a reason for Charlotte Douglas not seeing ICE agents in the opening days of deployment. Nor did DHS say whether it is considering sending ICE agents to CLT, the sixth-busiest airport in the world for takeoffs and landings.
But DHS provided data for major call-outs for sick days at airports such as Hoston’s George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby, Atlanta and New Orleans. The list did not include Charlotte Douglas.
Nationwide, more than 450 TSA officers left their jobs, and more than 3,200 have taken sick days during the partial government shutdown, said Lauren Bis, acting DHS assistant secretary for public affairs.
The call-out rate for Monday was about 11%, and 11.7% on Sunday, which has been the highest during the shutdown. Call-out rates ranged from 40.3% at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport to 19.3% at Phoenix, based on rates provided by DHS.
The nationwide deployments have sparked questions about how the Trump administration decided where to send ICE agents.
One example includes South Florida’s Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airports. The airports, which are the biggest in the area, confirmed to the Miami Herald that ICE agents are not coming to their terminals. The smaller Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers was the only Florida airport on the list.
How are security lines at the Charlotte airport?
Security lines in Charlotte seem to be better than places like Houston’s George Bush airport, where wait times are four hours, according to a CNN tracker.
As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, wait times at CLT were less than 10 minutes.
Passengers can check real-time standard security and TSA PreCheck wait times at cltairport.com/airport-info/security.
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 2:25 PM.
