ICE has arrived at airports. Many lines are still long.

By JACEY FORTIN, HAMED ALEAZIZ and GABE CASTRO-ROOT

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were deployed at airports across the United States on Monday, but their presence did not initially appear to ease the pain of many travelers.

Between 100 and 150 ICE officers were sent to the airports to assist Transportation Security Administration agents, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to discuss the matter.

ICE agents were seen at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Some strode through terminal halls on regular patrols, while others were stationed at security checkpoints. Some TSA agents said they believed ICE agents were there mostly for crowd control.

The U.S. official who estimated the number of ICE agents deployed said they were not expected to make immigration arrests, though that appeared to conflict with President Donald Trump’s statement about the agents on Sunday.

Despite the deployment of the agents and a deadly collision and closure at LaGuardia Airport in New York overnight, flight delays and cancellations were minimal at major U.S. airports Monday morning, according to FlightAware, which tracks aviation data.

Still, hours of waiting at TSA checkpoints threatened to cause many travelers to miss their flights. Some airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark Liberty , were not updating their live wait-time trackers Monday, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport, replaced its real-time tracker with a notice that passengers should arrive at least four hours before their scheduled departure time “due to current federal conditions.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 400 TSA agents have quit during the partial government shutdown, and on Sunday, more than 3,450 of them called out from work. Thousands have gone without pay.

ICE agents, some armed with handguns, wore vests inscribed with their agency letters. Many were not wearing masks, but at LaGuardia Airport, agents were wearing hygiene masks. In a Monday morning post on Truth Social, Trump said that he preferred that the agents did not wear masks.

He said he would deploy the National Guard, too, if the ICE agents could not alleviate delays.

Some travelers expressed unease over the presence of the ICE agents, following widespread public anger over the agency’s enforcement operations over the past year, particularly early this year in Minneapolis. Agents have used aggressive tactics in their pursuit of immigrants they wanted to deport, and they killed two American citizens, prompting protests across the United States.

Tom Charging Hawk, 38, a web developer from Boston, flew into O’Hare on Monday on his way to a conference. Before leaving a secure area to go to the baggage claim, he said, he walked past a few ICE agents standing near an exit. He did not see them interacting with travelers, but their presence unnerved him.