Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Is '100 Percent' Behind ICE Arrests at Airports Nationwide: 'The President Is Looking for Bad Hombres'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has publicly supported integrating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel into U.S. airport operations, explaining President Donald Trump is also a fan of the idea.

Appearing on NewsNation Live With Marni Hughes, Duffy, whose major advice to travelers was to wear “their best clothes when they travel,” defended Trump’s very unpopular airport crackdowns.

“In regard to ICE, I think the president, again, is looking for the bad hombres out there, the ones who are the most violent, the most criminal, and he ran on deporting those people. And if he's going to airports or if he's going to truck stops to find those individuals that are harming American citizens, I'm 100 percent behind it,” he said.

Data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and independent tracking organizations show that the majority of individuals detained during the Trump administration's ICE crackdowns do not have violent criminal records, and roughly 40 percent to 70 percent have no criminal convictions at all.

Duffy said he is also all for “rounding people up” at airports.

“That's exactly what he should do. As we look about people using our infrastructure, people who came into our country illegally and get benefits from American taxpayers, I think we have no place for that. So we should round them up and we should send them back home. Just because you came here legally doesn't mean you're entitled to stay in America continually, unlawfully,” he explained.

The deployment of ICE agents to major national airports began amid a partial federal government shutdown that strained the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel's capabilities.

While the administration presents this move as a logistical strategy to reduce wait times, it occurs alongside a broader, data-driven immigration dragnet that has significantly increased airport-linked enforcement actions.

The administration uses ICE personnel to handle crowd control, line management and exit monitoring, freeing up specialized TSA screeners.

The TSA regularly transmits full domestic passenger manifests to ICE.

ICE matches passenger lists against immigration databases to flag individuals with expired visas or unresolved legal statuses.

ICE agents use this tactical data to apprehend travelers at check-in counters, boarding areas and jet bridges.

The spike in terminal-area enforcement has generated pushback from aviation groups and civil rights advocates.

Major carriers are actively pushing back against gate-side enforcement, requiring ICE agents to produce proper judicial warrants signed by a judge before allowing them to board parked aircraft.

Airlines have formally raised operational concerns with the Department of Homeland Security, stating that conducting high-stress arrests at active jet bridges puts airline workers and innocent travelers directly in harm's way.

Immigration attorneys are raising alarms about the detention of non-citizens with active, pending applications for legal status, valid federal work authorization or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Advocacy groups are actively advising non-citizens with unresolved cases or ongoing status adjustments to severely limit domestic air travel due to the heightened risk of interception at TSA checkpoints.

Critics of the inexperienced transportation secretary have focused heavily on ethical concerns surrounding a corporate-sponsored family reality show, while critics of ICE operations point to aggressive enforcement tactics, civilian casualties and due process violations.

Duffy faced widespread criticism for filming a multi-part series titled The Great American Road Trip, which featured his family. Critics and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the project "out of touch" given high fuel prices and infrastructure pressures affecting regular commuters.