ICE agents deployed to assist Houston TSA operations

Driving the news: Houston Airports System says on its website that ICE agents are supporting TSA operations at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports Monday.

• It is unclear whether the ICE agents are staffing security checkpoints, how many have been deployed and how long they will be in place at Houston airports.
• The Airports System referred questions to its webpage.
• Department of Homeland Security acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis confirmed to Axios that ICE agents are being deployed to airports nationwide but did not confirm where, "for operational security reasons."

Flashback: Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, lapsed on Feb. 14 over disagreements in Congress about new rules for ICE agents.

• Since then, hundreds of TSA officers have quit and others aren't showing up to work without pay.

Zoom in: Security wait times at Bush Airport exceeded two hours Monday morning, while wait times at Hobby Airport were less, around 10 minutes.

• More than 39% of TSA officers assigned to Bush Airport called out Sunday, according to DHS data shared with Axios.

Threat level: Houston Airports says screening procedures for passengers will remain unchanged and notes that the number of open security lines can vary at any given time.

Zoom out: CNN reports ICE agents nationwide will be used in various airport security roles, from monitoring lines of passengers to helping with bins.