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Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have confirmed that the president’s administration is sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to US airports beginning Monday to assist with security amid extremely long lines – and to help airport security agents who have been working without pay since 14 February because of a partial government shutdown.

Homan will lead the effort, Trump said on Sunday.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said “ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful [Transportation Security Administration] Agents who have stayed on the job despite” the shutdown resulting from a US Senate deadlock over stricter regulations on federal immigration enforcement.

Homan, meanwhile, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday and said “we will be at the airports tomorrow”. It remained unclear what responsibilities ICE officers will have, and Homan said on Sunday details were still being finalized.

“There’s TSA agents covering exits. People that enter through the exits. Certainly a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit, make sure people don’t go through those exits, enter an airport through the exits,” he said on CNN.

“Stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to reduce those lines. 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 and help them move those lines.”

More than 400 TSA agents have left their jobs since the partial government shutdown began, according to NBC News, and others are calling out sick. There have been crippling, hours-long waits at security checkpoints run by TSA across the US.

Images showed lines out to the parking lot at New Orleans’s airport on Sunday and at New York’s LaGuardia airport earlier in the weekend.

Senate Democrats have blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees TSA, seeking reforms after immigration agents killed US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in separate cases in January.

Pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash on how well thought out the plan could be if it was still being finalized on Sunday, Homan said: “How much of a plan does it mean [sic] to guard an exit to make sure no one comes through an exit?”

Trump said on Saturday ICE agents at airports would “do security like no one has ever seen before”.

The Trump administration has deployed ICE agents for immigration crackdowns across the country, a move that – in addition to the killings of US citizens – has led to civil rights violations.

The US House’s Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, came out strongly against ICE agents at airports in his own appearance on CNN.

“The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them,” Jeffries said. “We have already seen how ICE conducts itself.”

Italy’s hardline conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, faces a pivotal political test in a two-day referendum on judicial reform that started on Sunday, a vote that has transformed into a broader judgment on her leadership at home and abroad.

Originally presented as a technical overhaul of the justice system, the reform has sharpened political divisions and unified the centre‑left opposition, turning the referendum into a symbolic showdown on Meloni’s strength one year ahead of national elections.

Recent polls show the race remains too close to call, with the “No” camp gaining late momentum in a polarised climate where turnout may prove decisive. After five hours of voting on the first day, according to Italy’s interior ministry, turnout reached almost 15 percent of eligible voters. That is the highest turnout for any two-day referendum in the past 23 years.

Lorenzo Pregliasco, political analyst and polling expert at YouTrend, said a rejection of the reform would carry significant political weight.

“A possible ‘No’ victory would send a political signal, weakening Meloni’s aura of invincibility, while pushing the centre-left opposition to say that there is already an alternative in the country,” he said.

Meloni initially avoided tying her image too closely to the referendum, wary of the danger that a defeat could weaken her domestically and abroad.

She currently presides over Italy’s most stable government in years, after gaining credibility among her European allies as a charismatic leader. A referendum win would further strengthen her tenure at home, alongside her international standing.

That’s why, as the vote neared and polls tightened, the Italian premier shifted strategy and fully embraced the “Yes” campaign.

WatchItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni celebrates three years in power

‘Self-serving’

Meloni has sharpened her rhetoric, accusing parts of the judiciary of hindering government work on migration and security, and warning that failure to pass the reform would strengthen unaccountable judicial “factions” and endanger citizens’ safety.

“If the reform doesn’t pass this time, we will probably not have another chance,” she said at a campaign event last week. “We will find ourselves with even more powerful factions, even more negligent judges, even more surreal sentences, immigrants, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers being freed and putting your security at risk.”

Her stark warnings have drawn fierce criticism from magistrates and the centre-left, who argue that the reforms would erode judicial independence and undermine constitutional guarantees.

“Obviously (I’m voting) no, because I think this government has organised a referendum that serves no purpose other than its own, if it were to go ahead,” said 89-year-old Giovanna Antongini as she headed to a polling station in central Rome.

Analysts say the referendum carries international implications as well.

Meloni’s long standing alignment with US President Donald Trump, once politically advantageous, has become increasingly problematic as his foreign policy – particularly the US and Israeli war with Iran – faces growing disapproval among Italians.

“Meloni is facing what I would call the ‘Trump risk’ – which is appearing too subservient to the US president, who is an extremely unpopular political leader in Italy and the rest of Europe and generates a lot of distrust, even among centre-right voters,” Pregliasco said.

Read moreTrump hails ‘fantastic’ Meloni as Italian PM makes surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago

A defeat in the referendum would not force Meloni to resign – her mandate runs through 2027 and she repeatedly pledged to complete it – but could diminish her credibility within the European Union, where she is viewed as a stabilising actor in an often politically volatile environment.

Threatening judiciary’s independence?

The referendum centers on long-debated reforms aimed at reshaping the structure of Italy’s judiciary.

“This vote is very important,” said Francesca Serlupi Ferretti Crescenzi, 67, casting her ballot in Rome. “It is intended to improve the judicial system, which is long overdue for reform. I am convinced that it must and can be improved.”

A key measure includes separating the career paths of judges and prosecutors, preventing them from switching roles – something that is currently allowed but rarely practiced.

Another major change concerns the High Judicial Council, which oversees magistrates’ appointments and disciplinary matters. The reform proposes splitting it into three separate chambers and altering how members are chosen, replacing internal elections with selections by lottery from eligible judges and prosecutors.

The clash between Italy’s right-wing leaders and magistrates has punctuated Italian politics, exploding during the governments of late conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi, who was one of the staunchest supporters of the judicial reform.

Supporters argue the changes will modernise an infamously slow court system and enhance accountability. But critics, including prominent magistrates, say the reform misses the real priorities while threatening the judiciary’s independence.

Nicola Gratteri, Naples’ chief prosecutor and a long-time anti-Mafia magistrate, offered one of the most pointed rebukes.

“I don’t think this government has implemented the reforms needed to make trials work more effectively,” he said. “Instead, it has made it virtually impossible to combat crimes against the public administration and to tackle white-collar abuse and corruption.”

As Italians head to the polls, the referendum stands as one of the defining moments of Meloni’s premiership – a choice that could reshape not only the justice system but also the trajectory of her government, regardless of the outcome.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)