Donald Trump's deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to US airports appears to have done little to address increasingly long queues at security.
Travellers are reporting missing flights because of immense waits, thanks to a shortage of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.
At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, passengers are told to expect waits of more than four hours.
READ MORE: Minutes before Trump's announcement, $800 million in trades made on oil prices
The delays are due to a partial government shutdown, which has prevented TSA agents from being paid.
For more than six weeks, TSA agents have been expected to come into work even though they aren't receiving a paycheque.
Instead, a huge number of the agents are calling in sick.
On Sunday Trump announced he would send ICE agents into airports.
"If the Radical Left Democrats don't immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia," he wrote on Truth Social.
"I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports."
But ICE agents at the airports appear to have made little difference to queue lengths.
Passengers have been taking photos of the heavily armed agents standing around doing nothing at airports across the US.
READ MORE: The comments from Trump's right-hand man that should annoy every Aussie
Meanwhile, the head of the TSA's union Everett Kelley has decried their use.
"TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints," Kelley said.
"You cannot improvise that.
"Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one."
Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said rogue ICE agents "have no business" at airports.
"This has nothing to do with public safety because it's making everyone less safe," she said.
"This is all just meant to intimidate. The cruelty is the point."
READ MORE: Trump compares Iran attack to Pearl Harbor in front of Japan's PM
The TSA are unfortunate casualties in a standoff between Democrats and the Trump administration.
Democrats have refused to vote on funding the Department of Homeland Security unless major changes are made to ICE.
They want to require ICE agents to wear identification and not wear masks, wear body cameras and only enter private property with a judicial warrant.
ICE would be prohibited from carrying out immigration enforcement operations at hospitals, schools, childcare facilities, churches, polling places and courts.
But the Trump administration has refused, resulting in funding getting cut for the Department, which includes the TSA.
Yesterday Democrats put forward a bill that would ensure that TSA agents would get paid, but it was knocked back by Republicans.
READ MORE: Trump considering ground invasion of critical Iranian island: reports
"Instead of paying our TSA workers, Trump is using ICE as his personal gestapo to manufacture fear and chaos in our airports," Democratic Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost said.
While TSA agents aren't getting paid, ICE agents are, thanks to funding in Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill that was passed last year.
NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.
- Download the 9NEWS App here via Apple and Google Play
- Make 9News your preferred source on Google by ticking this box here
- Sign up to our breaking newsletter here
