The ongoing government shutdown might impact your travel plans this summer. Staffing issues at major airports are fueling interminable wait times and customer frustration. Get answers on why it’s happening and when it’ll improve.
Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agents are being asked to work without pay. Nearly 500 have quit, and call-out rates have risen as high as 12%.
They’re pushing for the bill to add things like a ban on face masks for immigration agents, body camera mandates, stricter warrant requirements, and "de-escalation" of enforcement tactics. Most Republicans want to push the bill through in its current form – some, like President Trump, are also pushing for legislation such as the SAVE Act to pass along with it.
TSA deputy administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that current average airport wait times are the longest in the agency’s 24-year history.
How are airports replacing TSA agents?
To aid the staffing shortage, President Donald Trump began sending ICE officers to more than a dozen airports on Monday.
So far, ICE agents have been reported at:
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico (SJU)
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
- Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
- Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
- Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW)
Axios (Lean Left) noted that the TSA officer’s union rejected Trump’s plan, citing that it creates more problems than it solves. "Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one," the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley said.
The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) noted that Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner, who has called ICE officers “wannabe Nazis,” threatened to arrest immigration agents at his state’s airports.
John Pistole, a former TSA administrator under President Obama, suggested, “if somebody comes in, any one of these terminals around the country where we have these long lines, hundreds, thousands, perhaps, people just winding back and forth, and they see these armed officers, that may be a visible deterrent. So, that could be a good thing.”
He added that “if I'm getting on a flight tomorrow, I want to know that the people doing the screening are qualified, that it's not their first day on the job."
The New York Post (Lean Right) reported that the presence of ICE agents has helped reduce wait times significantly in some cases.
Will I be screened by an ICE agent?
Probably not, but officials have made conflicting statements.
During an interview with CNN (Lean Left) on Sunday, US border czar Tom Homan said “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine, because they’re not trained in that.”
However, in an interview with ABC News (Lean Left), Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seemed to contradict what Homan said. According to Duffy, ICE agents may take a more active approach in the screening process, saying “They know how to pat people down” and “run the X-ray machines.”
Some outlets, like The Advocate (Lean Left), framed the contradiction between the officials around the “rushed, still-evolving nature” of the policy, noting that Homan “acknowledged the plan was being finalized in real time” and described it as a “work in progress.”
According to Axios, ICE agents can assist TSA by filling gaps in three areas: crowd control, staffing exit lanes, and immigration enforcement, adding commentary from former ICE director John Sandweg saying immigration enforcement is “one of their core duties.”
Axios also outlined four things ICE agents are not trained to conduct: aviation safety, baggage screening, pat-downs, and operating X-ray machines.
Whether or not ICE agents will actually perform immigration enforcement actions while assisting TSA remains unclear.
Homan added that ICE does “immigration enforcement at airports all the time” and “it’s not going to change.” Homan added that this policy is about “helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can.”
Why is this shutdown only affecting TSA?
The DHS shutdown is primarily hitting the TSA, but is also impacting other arms of government.
The shutdown is actually impacting several agencies under the umbrella of DHS, including: TSA, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Coast Guard, Cybersecurity, and the Secret Service among others. According to the AFGE, about 90 percent of DHS’ 260,000 employees are currently working without pay.
However, other agencies, like ICE, which would normally be impacted through a DHS shutdown, have enough cash to operate throughout the entirety of President Donald Trump’s second term due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which awarded more than $170 billion in funding to conduct immigration enforcement through 2029.
Of the agencies impacted, however, TSA has gotten the most attention due to the lengthy lines at airports amidst an already-elevated security atmosphere.
What’s the best way to resolve this for the long term?
CHANGE THE FUNDING STRUCTURE to eliminate the use of shutdowns as a bargaining tool?
- Enact automatic continuing appropriations so DHS never shuts down; funding would continue at prior‑year levels if Congress misses a deadline. The work of DHS and TSA in particular is too important to put on autopilot.
PASS ESSENTIAL-WORKER PAY EXEMPTION legislation to ensure TSA staff are exempt from pay disruptions during government shutdowns?
EXPAND PRIVATIZATION and rely on private security contractors via the Screening Partnership Program, avoiding the impact of future government shutdowns?
- Private screening is significantly more productive than TSA, processing an average of 65% more passengers.
News media across the left, right, and center have reported on TSA shutdowns with varying degrees of blame aimed at partisans – sometimes making the situation seem either worse or better than it is.
Bias on the Right
Daily Mail (Lean Right) spun the headline, “Gobsmacked CNN reporter admits ICE agents actually eased TSA wait times at Atlanta airport,” which established causation rather than correlation between the relationship of ICE’s arrival and the expediency of TSA lines. A poll in the Daily Mail’s article asked, “How do you feel about ICE agents stepping in to fix airport chaos caused by the shutdown?,” again, presupposing ICE is undoubtedly the reason for shorter lines.
The article used sensational language to describe the CNN reporter as “astonished,” “giddy,” and “gobsmacked.”
A report by Fox News (Right) described Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) disagreements with Democrats on the DHS shutdown. The author wrote, “Democrats have refused to support DHS funding bills without reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” attributing shutdown blame exclusively to Democrats - with no parallel of Republican refusal.
Through source selection and narrative sequencing, the article conveys to the reader that the human cost to TSA workers is grave and can be blamed upon Democrats for their unwillingness to cooperate with Republicans.
Bias in the Center
A news report by The Hill (Center) suggested Republicans “could suffer the blame” if tensions get any worse. This framing assumes it is the majority party’s responsibility to end shutdowns, rather than framing the issue as a contested interpretation.
The article also provided an unbalanced report on dissenting parties, as it gave numerous dissenting republicans such as Cruz, Murkowski, Kennedy, Rounds, but omitted those amongst the Democrats such as Fetterman.
Newsweek (Center) provided a news report with the headline, “Republican Says Trump Blocked TSA Agents Getting Paid,” framing Trump as the blocking agent when the Republican in question, Sen. John Kennedy (R-KY), is the one who said “no deals with the Democrats” would be made this week.
The article leads with Kennedy’s account and offers an in depth description of the rejected compromise prior to Trump’s justification, which is offered as a mere tweet rather than a written explanation by the author, making the rejection feel arbitrary.
Bias on the Left
USA Today (Lean Left) published an article titled, “Unpaid TSA workers face 'exhausting anxiety' during shutdown,” which featured three union representatives and a sympathetic traveler as the article’s source material, and only briefly includes DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin in a procedural statement towards the end.
The Guardian (Left) published the headline, “Democrats shut down DHS funding deal from Republicans as standoff continues,” framing the story without equally considering the Republicans’ refusal of the Democrats’ reforms. The author used the sensational phrase “mass deportation push,” imposing a negative connotation on immigration enforcement operations. The article also presents the negative consequence of lengthy airport lines prominently while describing Trump's response neutrally as “in a bid to relieve congestion.”
Where’s the common ground?
Virtually no one is arguing that TSA agents don’t deserve to get paid, and many see that as the primary issue to solve. Ten executives of competing U.S. airlines urged Congress this week to get a deal done.
“TSA officers just received $0 paychecks,” reads an open letter to lawmakers from the executives. “That is simply unacceptable. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid… The stakes are especially high. U.S. airlines expect 171 million passengers this spring season, a new record.”
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Why are airports such a mess right now?
Which airports are most affected by the partial government shutdown?
How is media bias distorting the situation?
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