The Trump administration on Monday began deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports struggling with long security lines, escalating tensions in a congressional budget standoff that people on both sides of the aisle say has both turned Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers into political pawns and compromised traveler safety.
This week marks TSA agents’ sixth week without pay during a partial government shutdown, as Congress has failed to reach an agreement on changes to ICE policies that Democrats have demanded in exchange for supporting a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees both agencies.
DHS says nearly 400 of the TSA’s 50,000 officers have quit, and TSA data shows that as many as a third of officers called out at least some days last week at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). At Houston’s Hobby International Airport (HOU), 55 percent of officers were out on March 14, right at the height of the spring break travel season.
The staffing shortages have resulted in security wait times up to three to four hours at some of the nation’s busiest airports, according to airport websites and traveler reports across social media.
There’s one solution that immediately solves the problem at our airports. Pay the people who are already trained to protect us.
Which airport are ICE agents being deployed at?
As reported by CNN on Monday, ICE agents were deployed at 14 U.S. airports:
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
- New York’s 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 San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
- New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
- Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
- Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
- Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers (RSW)
- Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
Will ICE help or compound the airport security backlogs?
Despite the delays reported in airport security lines, observers said the decision to send in ICE agents to “assist” security officers might exacerbate the problem at a time when global tensions and threats are rising due to the war in Iran.
“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security,” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, which represents TSA officers, said in a statement. “TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints—skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.”
Kelley added that TSA agents, who have been “showing up every day, without a paycheck . . . deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
What is the underlying dispute?
The controversy over ICE policies and tactics, including the fatal shootings of two civilians during protests in Minnesota earlier this year, is what led to the partial government shutdown that has affected DHS. Democrats are seeking bans on ICE agents wearing masks and requirements that they wear body cameras to record their actions, among other changes.
While ICE, like TSA, is part of DHS, it has access to billions of extra enforcement dollars from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to pay officers.
Still, travel industry officials joined union officers in questioning the wisdom of sending ICE agents to assist TSA.
“I don’t know what I am more afraid of, honestly: a TSA worker who is distracted because they can’t make ends meet, and they come to work anyway out of a sense of duty . . . or an ICE agent that knows nothing about how to screen people,” said Zane Kerby, president and CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA). “Both give me pause.”
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, in a statement Sunday, said that issues of proper training aside, the introduction of ICE agents into airports “creates contradictory missions, as attempts to question passengers about immigration status may distract them from ensuring airport security.”
According to the flight attendants’ union, “there’s one solution that immediately solves the problem at our airports. Pay the people who are already trained to protect us from terror attacks today, especially as the war with Iran increases the desire to strike against Americans.”
Why aren’t TSA officers getting paid?
Both Democrats and Republicans blame each other for putting TSA officers—who make an average of $51,000 a year and, like many Americans, often live paycheck to paycheck—in the middle of the broader political fight over ICE policies.
Kerby said TSA and the travel industry have become political pawns because “people want to travel, they need to travel, and they love to travel. And so it’s being used as a bargaining chip for other things.”
He called the situation “unconscionable” and a “complete abdication of responsibility from our elected leaders.”
Allison O’Connor, senior vice president of communications for the U.S. Travel Association, said it wasn’t a partisan issue, but rather “a moral judgment across the board where we have frontline people trying to safeguard travel, and they’re being used.”
On March 15, Airlines 4 America, an advocacy group that represents the major U.S. airlines, issued a letter to Congress addressing one of the root problems, which is that federal aviation workers don’t get paid during shutdowns, including the most recent full government shutdown this past fall, which crippled the country’s air travel network.
“Americans are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown,” the airline group stated in its letter. “Once again air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown.”
The airlines urged Congress to pass the Aviation Funding Solvency Act, the Aviation Funding Stability Act, and the Keep America Flying Act which would guarantee that air traffic controllers and TSA officers are paid regardless of the government’s funding status.
“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. With spring break travel in full swing, FIFA World Cup 2026 right around the corner, and celebrations for America’s 250th birthday throughout the year, the stakes are especially high,” the letter stated.
The hope, according to the airline group, is to find a way to ensure that these problems don’t rise up again every time Congress is at an impasse.
The broader impact on travel
The spillover goes far beyond lines at the airport.
Kerby said the results of a recent poll of travel advisors shows almost 61 percent of ASTA members report the TSA shutdown was having a “significant impact” on their business. Between fears about the war and concerns about long lines, a “notable percentage of travelers” are canceling or postponing trips, Kerby said.
New data from the air analytics firm Cirium shows a similar trend. Bookings for travel from the U.S. to Europe this July is down 11.19 percent compared to last year, while bookings from Europe to the U.S. have fallen 15.34 percent.
Tips for travelers
TSA lines vary widely across the country and even hour to hour at the country’s busiest airports.
Some people on social media have reported clearing security faster than in the standard screening lanes by using special programs like Clear, TSA PreCheck, and TSA Touchless ID.
The only surefire way to avoid implications from a TSA shutdown is to fly out of one of the 20 U.S. airports that use private contractors instead of federal workers to screen travelers.
Most are very small airports in places like Roswell, New Mexico, and Tupelo, Mississippi. But one major airport, San Francisco International, and two smaller airports, Kansas City and Orlando’s Sanford International, are part of the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program that SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said has insulated the airport’s screeners from multiple shutdowns since it joined the program 20 years ago.
Travelers not flying out of airports that use private contractors should arrive extra early as this crisis persists; long lines are likely to be an ongoing problem until the shutdown is resolved—and possibly for some time after, too.
Also, using smaller or less-congested airports and hubs can help. For instance, last week, while headlines reported hours-long TSA waits in Houston and Atlanta, this Afar contributor returning home from Europe breezed right through Global Entry and back through security at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) in about five minutes.
But Johnny Jones, a 20-year TSA worker at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and secretary-treasurer of the AFGE’s local Council 100, said if the shutdown is not resolved before Congress’s planned two-week recess next week, American travelers everywhere are going to see real chaos.
“Because the bottom line is, there’s just not going to be people going to work,” he said, noting this is the third shutdown TSA workers have had to endure in the past 14 months. Even if an agreement is reached, it will take another few weeks for the government to get caught up on pay to TSA workers.
“How long could you physically go without being paid?”
