Nearly 20-year shoe-off airport security policy is ended by Trump administration

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday the immediate end of the shoe-off requirement at TSA security checkpoints at every airport nationwide.

"In those 20 years since that policy was put in place, our security technology has changed dramatically. It's evolved. TSA has changed," she said at the presser. 

"We have a multi-layered, whole-of-government approach now to security and to the environment that people anticipate and experience when they come into an airport that has been honed and it's been hardened," said Noem. 

The announcement was made in an effort to "make screening easier for passengers, improve traveler satisfaction and will reduce wait times," according to a TSA press release.

Some passengers may still be subject to a search of their shoes "if they get put into a different situation or need additional layers of screening."

"The key to our approach is layered security. Passengers will still pass through multiple layers of screening."

TSA PreCheck and partners CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos have kept passengers from taking their shoes off in security for a number of years - but the latest change would impact everyone traveling through main security lines.

Noem also cited the "fantastic success" of the implementation of REAL ID.

"I'd encourage all Americans to still go out there if you don't have your REAL ID yet. It does help us identify who you are and keep passengers safe."

Preston Mizell of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.