ICE agents spotted at Hobby and IAH; airport officials say TSA lines could exceed 4 hours at Bush

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As long security lines continue at airports across the country, ABC News confirmed ICE agents would be deployed to Houston.

Houston airport officials said that TSA wait times could exceed four hours at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Monday. At some points on Sunday, the TSA line wait time reached 220 minutes at IAH.

"Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are supporting TSA operations at U.S. airports, including IAH and HOU, as part of the federal response to the ongoing government shutdown, which began Feb. 14 and continues to impact TSA staffing as officers work without pay," Houston Airports said in a statement.

TSA agents have either quit or called out sick over the past couple of weeks as they continue to work without pay due to the partial government shutdown. On Monday, ICE agents were spotted at both IAH and Hobby Airport.

READ MORE: Bush Airport closes some TSA checkpoints as partial government shutdown drags on

Sources told ABC News that ICE agents would be deployed to 14 airports across the country, including Bush and Hobby airports.

See the full list below:

• Chicago-O'Hare International Airport

• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

• Houston's William P. Hobby Airport

• Houston's Bush intercontinental

• John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York)

• LaGuardia Airport (New York)

• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

• Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

• Newark Liberty International Airport

• Philadelphia International Airport

• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

• Pittsburgh International Airport

• Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers, Florida)

"If we can bring in other assets and tools to assist TSA to get rid of these lines, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview with ABC News.

TSA saw the highest call-out rate of TSA officers at airports on Saturday, about 11.5% of the scheduled workforce, according to TSA data obtained by ABC News.

RELATED: TSA says nearly 10% of its officers called out sick Tuesday

On Sunday, Bush Airport posted on X that CLEAR would not operate on Monday and that TSA PreCheck would only be available in Terminals A, C, and E and would close at 10:30 a.m.

At about 7 a.m. on Monday, only three of eight standard and pre-check checkpoints were open at IAH. Officials said that as of 9:15 a.m., TSA would no longer be accepting additional passengers at the Terminal C checkpoint.

In Hobby, officials said fewer screening lanes would be open.

You can visit the Houston Airport System website for more flight information.