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OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
10:46 AM – Saturday, March 21, 2026
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees affected by the weeks-long partial government shutdown. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has threatened to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to help shorten airport security lines.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote on X early on Saturday.
It’s unclear how this generous offer would be executed, especially given that government employees are generally prohibited from receiving outside compensation for their official duties.
TSA officers have faced several shutdowns in recent months. In the fall, they worked without pay through a 43-day full government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — as Democrats in the Senate withheld approval for funding while demanding extended Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which expired at the end of 2025.
On February 14th, the upper chamber failed to agree to a budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) due to Senate Democrats’ demands for tighter restrictions and oversight of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and ICE.
Trump’s proposed solution on Saturday differed from the SpaceX CEO’s.
“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,” the president declared on Truth Social.
He mused over how ICE agents would fulfill their duties at airports, including “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota.”
This comment referenced fraud conspiracies initially uncovered by independent journalists in recent months, prompting Operation Metro Surge, during which thousands of immigration officers were deployed to the state. The schemes involved organizations, often managed by Somali immigrants in Minnesota, that posed as social service providers, such as daycares, and accepted government funding without providing those services.
“I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” he concluded.
Last week, TSA personnel missed their first full paycheck after the lapse in funding in February. This has caused several employees to call out of work or simply not show, as many scramble to find other ways to support themselves. Airport security wait times, as a result, have suffered, inconveniencing travelers across the nation.
At the time, Trump praised officers who had stayed at their posts on his Truth Social platform, urging them to hold tight while Democrats refused to approve a funding bill.
“Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!!” Trump wrote.
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