* LaGuardia collision kills two pilots, injures dozens,

causes flight cancellations

* ICE agents deployed to 14 airports to help with

security lines

* Passengers face hours-long waits

By David Shepardson, Rich McKay and Andy Sullivan

NEW YORK/ATLANTA, March 23 (Reuters) - Two pilots died

in a runway accident that shut New York's LaGuardia Airport on

Monday and U.S. President Donald Trump deployed armed

immigration agents to help ease long security lines at major

airports strained by personnel shortages.

The crash between an Air Canada Express jet and a

fire truck at LaGuardia injured dozens of passengers and led to

hundreds of flight cancellations at the start of the working

week in the latest disruption for airports and carriers that

have been knocked off-kilter by a weeks-long budget standoff in

Congress.

The crashed jet remained visible at the airport on Monday,

its crushed cockpit pointing skyward. CCTV footage verified by

Reuters showed the landing plane hit the fire truck as it

crossed the runway directly in front of the jet.

The two young pilots who died in the incident had just

started their careers, said Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal

Aviation Administration. "It's an absolute tragedy," he said at

a press conference.

Investigators probing the collision said they wanted to

interview an air traffic controller who was juggling another

emergency in the run-up to the crash.

ICE DEPLOYED TO AIRPORTS

Travelers have endured hours-long waits at security

screening checkpoints in recent days as resignations and

absentee rates have risen among Transportation Security

Administration employees, who have gone without pay for more

than a month.

"If you work, you should get your money. Why should that be

a problem?" said traveler Edwin Blain, 60, who showed up four

hours early to avoid missing his flight at Atlanta's

Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the nation's busiest, where 42% of

TSA agents were absent on Sunday.

On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents

with bulletproof vests and pistols were taken off the streets,

where they normally focus on arresting immigrants the government

seeks to deport, and redeployed in airports in Atlanta, New York

and New Jersey, according to Reuters witnesses.

Trump said they were being sent to airports to help TSA

agents reduce security screening lines, over the objections of

the TSA workers' labor union, which said ICE agents had not

undergone the months of airport security training needed.

At several airports, ICE agents were seen standing near

lengthy security lines while TSA agents continued to operate the

X-ray machines and scanning systems. The ICE agents' functions

were not immediately clear.

For the most part, they were not wearing the masks that have

become a divisive symbol of Trump's immigration crackdown and a

subject of negotiations in Congress.

White House immigration czar Tom Homan said agents had been

deployed to 14 airports in cities including New York, Chicago,

Atlanta and Houston.

Authorities said the agents would provide crowd control, but

Trump said they could also make arrests, raising concerns the

chaotic raids that have played out on the streets of

Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere might come to airports as

well.

POLITICAL STANDOFF

In Washington, there was little sign the standoff between

Trump's Republicans and opposition Democrats would end soon.

Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland

Security without new curbs on immigration agents, who have

killed U.S. citizens and sparked public outrage during their

crackdown.

Though the White House has engaged in talks with lawmakers,

Trump said on Monday he would not sign off on any compromise

until Congress first passed a series of voting restrictions that

Democrats have rejected, adding another potential roadblock to a

deal.

Airlines are also facing rising fuel costs, which have

surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than three

weeks ago. United Airlines is cutting flights through

the busy summer travel season, citing elevated oil prices.

LAGUARDIA COLLISION KILLS TWO, SEVERAL HOSPITALIZED

In New York, the pilot and first officer of the Air Canada

Express jet were killed and another nine people were

hospitalized with serious injuries when the plane hit the fire

truck. The CRJ-900 plane, operated by regional partner Jazz

Aviation, had been carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.

The town of Coteau du Lac in Canada's Quebec province

identified one of the pilots as Antoine Forest, who was

originally from the area, in a Facebook post.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board

were able to retrieve cockpit voice and flight data recorders

after cutting a hole in the plane, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy

said.

Some 572 flights were canceled, more than 50% of LaGuardia's

daily total. Some flights resumed on Monday afternoon, but the

FAA said the runway where the accident took place would be

closed until Friday.

U.S. aviation has faced a chronic shortage of air traffic

controllers, but U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said

that was not a problem at LaGuardia.

Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of

New York and New Jersey, said the fire truck was responding to a

separate aircraft that had reported an "issue with odor."

According to air traffic control audio, a controller cleared

the fire truck to cross a runway. Moments later, the controller

can be heard saying: "Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1,

stop."