Scott Detrow

Both TSA and ICE fall under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, but the two agencies have different responsibilities.

What impact, if any, will deploying ICE agents to airports have?

And what can travelers expect as Washington continues to spar over a funding deal?

From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

It's Consider This from NPR.

TSA agents have been working more than a month now without pay due to an ongoing standoff over Homeland Security funding.

Democrats in Congress are refusing to fund the department unless the Trump administration agrees to changes over how ICE operates.

In the meantime, many TSA agents are calling in sick or quitting rather than keep working without pay.

And now ICE agents have been deployed to some airports across the country to assist the TSA.

To give us a sense of how airports around the U.S.

are managing all of this, we're joined by Keith Jeffries.

He is the former federal security director for TSA at Los Angeles International Airport.

Welcome.

I mean, just directly, what would you say the biggest security challenges are with this many workers being out, with lines being this long?

And is it fair to say that you're looking at the same dynamics, maybe magnified dynamics, of just what happens to human beings when they're made to wait in a long line, that the temper is going to be higher and that can lead to more problems?

So we're seeing a lot of agents, for one reason or another, not show up to work or take a few days off here and there due to the extenuating circumstances.

We are seeing these long, long lines.

We now have ICE involved at some airports.

My understanding is they're not doing direct passenger screening, and the initial reports are the wait times have not gone down at all.

Do you have a sense of what these ICE agents are doing at airports?