Absences among transportation security workers this weekend reached their highest since a partial government shutdown began five weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security said on Sunday, as immigration enforcement agents prepared to fill in for them at some of the busiest U.S. airports. Nationwide, about 11.5% of Transportation Security Administration staff were absent on Saturday, DHS said, but that figure soared to 42.4% at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, 33.4% at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and 33.6% at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Overall, more than 9% of TSA employees have been absent from work over the past seven days, leading to lengthy lines for passengers trying to get to their gates, according to DHS. To help fill the staffing gaps, hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will deploy to airports starting on Monday, officials have said. DHS said on Sunday it would not publicly share details about the ICE deployment, in order to preserve operational security. Sources briefed on the matter said the current plan calls for deploying ICE agents to 14 locations, although that figure may change. Tens of thousands of airport security personnel have been working without pay for weeks while congressional Democrats and Republicans argue over a budget for DHS. “Many TSA officers cannot pay their rent, buy food, or afford to put gas in their cars — forcing them to call out sick from work,” a DHS spokesperson said on Sunday. Trump announced on Saturday that ICE agents would be sent to airports unless Democratic lawmakers agree to fund DHS. Democrats have criticized the department’s immigration operations and are demanding a change in rules. For now, ICE agents will not be deployed in areas behind security checkpoints because they lack the specific clearance needed, the sources said. Border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that sending out immigration agents to bolster short-staffed TSA teams will speed up airport lines, but the union for TSA workers said that does not solve what they see as the underlying problem of pay. In appearances on Sunday news shows, Homan and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy argued that ICE personnel can help with airport security screening, starting on Monday, even though they have not been specifically trained for it. “When we deploy tomorrow, we’ll have a well thought-out plan to execute,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. Hundreds of TSA agents have simply resigned, according to their labor union and TSA. “ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!” Trump wrote in a Sunday morning social media post. Details of how ICE agents would help with the lines were scant, although Homan told CNN a plan would be in place by the end of the day “to move those lines along.” Homan and Duffy, in separate interviews, had different ideas about how the ICE agents might be deployed. Homan said he doubted ICE agents would operate X-ray baggage and passenger screening machines because they did not have experience. Duffy, in contrast, said ICE agents “know how to pat people down, they know how to run the X-ray machines.” The labor union representing TSA workers criticized Trump’s decision, saying their members spend months in training learning to detect explosives and weapons. “Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.” Unlike TSA employees, ICE agents have continued to get paid by the government through a separate funding provision while lawmakers debate whether ICE funding should be tied to new rules and procedures. Democrats have said new rules are needed after masked ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in the streets of Minneapolis earlier this year. The two had come out to protest or observe Trump’s deportation surge in Minnesota. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat and the minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, told CNN that his caucus is open to a separate funding agreement for TSA employees while lawmakers debate measures to “get ICE under control.” But there has been little movement on an actual deal so far, especially in the Senate. “We have an obligation to not fund an agency that is acting this lawlessly,” Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, David Shepardson in Washington and Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Additional writing by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Aurora Ellis, Sergio Non and Edmund Klamann)

Iran said on Sunday it would strike the energy and water systems of its Gulf neighbours in retaliation if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to hit Iran’s electricity grid in 48 hours, escalating the three-week-old war. The prospect of tit-for-tat strikes on civilian infrastructure could deepen the regional crisis and further rattle global markets when they reopen on Monday morning. Air raid sirens sounded across Israel from the early hours of Sunday, warning of incoming missiles from Iran, after scores of people were hurt overnight in two separate attacks in the southern Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona. The Israeli military said hours later that it was striking Tehran in response. Trump threatened overnight to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, barely a day after he talked about “winding down” the war. He made the new threat as U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft are heading to the region. But while attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they would be potentially catastrophic for its Gulf neighbors, which consume around five times as much power per capita. Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, and most of them produce nearly all of their drinking water by purifying it from the sea. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf wrote on X that critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be “irreversibly destroyed” should Iranian power plants be attacked. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it would also mean the shipping lane where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally transits along Iran’s southern coast would remain shut. “The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed and will not be opened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the Guards said in a statement. More than 2,000 people have been killed during the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, spiked fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance. “President Trump’s threat has now placed a 48-hour ticking time bomb of elevated uncertainty over markets,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore, who expects stock markets to fall when they reopen on Monday. Oil prices jumped on Friday, ending the day at their highest in nearly four years. Markets already under severe strain from blockaded shipping were further rattled last week when Israel attacked a major gas field in Iran, and Tehran responded with strikes on neighbors Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, raising the prospect of damage hindering energy output even if tankers resume sailing. Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, causing the worst oil crisis since the 1970s. Its near-closure sent European gas prices surging as much as 35% last week. “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump posted on social media around 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT) on Saturday. Iranian media quoted the country’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation as saying the strait remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies.” Ali Mousavi said passage through the waterway was possible by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran. Ship-tracking data shows some vessels, such as Indian-flagged ships and a Pakistani oil tanker, have negotiated safe passage through the strait. But the vast majority of ships have remained holed up inside. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters said on Sunday if the U.S. hit Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure, Iran would attack all U.S. energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure in the region. Striking major Iranian power plants could trigger blackouts, crippling everything from pumps and refineries to export terminals and military command centers. The United States and Israel say they have seriously degraded Iran’s ability to project force beyond its borders with their three weeks of intensive air strikes. But Tehran fired its first known long-range ballistic missiles with a range of 4,000 km (2,500 miles) on Friday towards a U.S.-British Indian Ocean ‌military base, expanding the risk of attacks beyond the Middle East. An Iranian strike also landed near Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor about 13 km (8 miles) southeast of the city of Dimona. The war has been taking place alongside a confrontation on a separate front between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, backed by Iran, with Israel saying on Sunday its troops had raided a number of the armed group’s sites in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said it had attacked several border areas in northern Israel. Israeli emergency services said one person was killed in a kibbutz near the border. Israel later said it was checking whether the death was caused by Israeli fire. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel since it entered the regional war on March 2, prompting an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon. Israel said it had instructed the military to accelerate the demolition of Lebanese homes in “frontline villages” to end threats to Israelis, and to destroy all bridges over Lebanon’s Litani River which it said were used for “terrorist activity.” Pope Leo appealed for an end to the conflict. “The death and suffering caused by this war are a scandal to the whole human family,” he said. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington, Andrew Mills in Doha, Timour Azhari in Riyadh, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv; Additional reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lisa Shumaker, Michael Perry, William Maclean; Editing by Alexander Smith, Peter Graff and Jon Boyle)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and agents have mixed reactions to President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy them to airports to assist TSA during the partial government shutdown. Trump announced the plan Saturday to begin the effort Monday in the hopes of reducing airport security wait times as TSA officers report massive staff shortages as they continue to go unpaid. Multiple Department of Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire that there’s word that the deployment will consist of agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE whose mission goes beyond just investigating immigration-related crimes. HSI special agents are tasked with child exploitation cases, cybercrimes, and the smuggling of antiquities. They also maintain offices at several major airports across the United States, sources said. One ICE source said they “wouldn’t mind” helping TSA, adding, “However, a lot of us have reached our overtime caps.” “They would need to provide waivers … I don’t think it would jeopardize field arrests if that happens,” the source added. A second ICE source emphatically said, “I’ll go.” In response to a postal worker strike in 1970, President Richard Nixon deployed hundreds of soldiers with the Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, Air National Guard, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Reserve to deliver Americans’ mail. An ICE source said Trump should do the same. “I think the National Guard or military reserves are better suited,” the source said. Two recently-retired ICE officials also expressed their opposition. “This is the problem. ICE are the tool that gets thrown around to do everything other than their job,” one of the retired officials said. Another called Trump’s plan “profoundly misguided and reckless.” “TSA officers receive specialized, intensive training in passenger screening, threat detection, and the use of advanced equipment training that ICE personnel, despite their excellence in interior enforcement, do not possess,” the retired officer said. “Redirecting ICE agents from their current, highly effective operations where they maintain a proven rhythm in arresting and detaining those unlawfully present would undermine both airport security standards and nationwide immigration priorities,” the former fed added. Another officer expressed concern with the optics as they’re increasingly perceived as “the gestapo” who are “harassing U.S. citizens.” Trump tasked his border czar, Tom Homan, with leading the airport deployment. Tom Homan says he’s working on the plan to deploy ICE agents to assist TSA at airports starting tomorrow. One area he said they’ll be able to help is monitoring airport exits, saying “I don‘t see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine because they‘re not trained in that.” pic.twitter.com/fEgdBs8XAv — Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 22, 2026 On Sunday, the former ICE director told CNN he’s working with the TSA administrator and ICE director to get a plan in place “by the end of today.” “The ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already and they do a lot of criminal investigations on smuggling at airports. You’ve got TSA agents covering exits, people that enter through the exits, you know, surely a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit … that would leave that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines,” Homan said. “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because they’re not trained in that. There’s certain parts of security that TSA’s doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs to help move those lines,” he added.

Singer Chappell Roan just responded after being called out by Brazilian soccer star Jorginho Frello for her alleged treatment of his 11-year-old stepdaughter. The singer claimed her personal security was not involved and said she doesn’t actually “hate children.” The drama began when Frello detailed his version of the “aggressive” treatment of Chappell’s young fan while both were eating breakfast at a local hotel. He claimed Chappell Roan’s security guard threatened his family, including the young girl, for daring to walk by the Grammy Award-winner’s table and look at her. In Frello’s social media post, he said his daughter “was so happy to see an artist she really admires, or used to admire” before the hotel drama changed everything. Frello did not say the name of the child, but it’s believed he is referring to his stepdaughter, who is the biological child of actor Jude Law and Frello’s wife Catherine Harding. Chappell Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Amstutz, is currently headlining Lollapalooza Brazil in São Paulo. “By coincidence, they’re staying at the same hotel as this artist. During breakfast, the artist walked past their table. My daughter, like any child, recognised her, got excited, and just wanted to make sure it really was her,” he explained. “And the worst part is she didn’t even approach her. She simply walked past the singer’s table, looked to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to sit with her mum. She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for anything.” The pro athlete said that next, “a large security guard came over to their table while they were still having breakfast and began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife and daughter, saying that she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people.” Frello continued the post, saying his daughter “was extremely shaken and cried a lot” following the interaction. He added in his post, “It’s sad to see this kind of treatment coming from those who should understand the importance of fans. At the end of the day, they are the ones who build all of this. I sincerely hope this serves as a moment of reflection. No one should have to go through this, especially not a child.” Chappell Roan addressed the accusations Sunday morning with an Instagram post of her own, claiming that she had no knowledge of the incident. “I’m just going to tell my half of the story of what happened today with a mother and child who were involved with a security guard who is not my personal security,” the singer said in a video response. “I didn’t even see, I didn’t even see a woman and a child. Like, no one came up to me. No one bothered me. I was just sitting at breakfast in my hotel. I think these people were staying at the hotel as well.” “The fact that a security guard who was … I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child. They did not come up to me. They weren’t doing anything. It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions when they have no reason to believe, because there’s no action even taken. I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children. Like, that is crazy,” she went on. “I’m sorry to the mother and child that someone was assuming something that you would do something and that if you felt uncomfortable, that makes me really sad. You did not deserve that.” Chappell Roan has been outspoken about having personal boundaries and is known for calling out fans or paparazzi who approach her, even at events. “I chose this career path because I love music and art and honoring my inner child, I do not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path, nor do I deserve it,” she shared in 2024. “I don’t agree with the notion that I owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out — just because they’re expressing admiration,” she went on.

A Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was released into the country by the Biden administration has been identified as the suspect in the fatal Thursday shooting of Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Sunday. Jose Medina-Medina, 25, was arrested after he allegedly approached the college freshman, wearing black clothes and a black mask, before firing one round as she tried to run, according to DHS. Medina was released into the country after crossing the border illegally in May 2023, DHS said. The Venezuelan national then allegedly shoplifted from a local Macy’s in June 2023, according to the Chicago Tribune. He failed to appear for his hearing in that case, leading the judge to issue a warrant. As of September 2023, the warrant was still outstanding, according to the Tribune. The shooting occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday while the 18-year-old student was walking with friends to see the Northern Lights, her family said. Police identified Medina because of his “distinct limp,” the Tribune reported. He was also seen without a mask in surveillance video taken inside an apartment building after the shooting. DHS is now pressuring sanctuary authorities in Illinois to not release the migrant monster. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer has been lodged with local police, who are not expected to honor it, due to sanctuary laws. “Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” Bis added. Gorman, a business student who hailed from New York, was involved in the Christian campus group Cru. Her grieving family said she had “a way of leaving people better than she found them” and that she “was exactly where she should have been — close to campus, surrounded by friends, living her life.” “What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the statement said. “This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed,” they added. After learning that the suspect is a Venezuelan national, Gorman’s family called for “accountability” in the case. “As the case moves forward toward arraignment, the family has been informed that the suspect is a Venezuelan national and additional information is expected to be released. We are again faced with the unbearable truth: our daughter’s life was taken, and our family will never be the same,” they said, according to Fox News. “We recognize that the arraignment represents a formal step in the justice process, and we appreciate the work of law enforcement in bringing the case to this point. But for our family, this is not about a process—it is about accountability, and it is about ensuring that Sheridan’s life is not reduced to just another case moving through the system.”