Sacramento TSA workers receive overdue pay amid government shutdown

The Transportation Safety Administration says most of its officers received most of their backpay Monday for working during the shutdown.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Transportation Safety Administration workers at Sacramento International Airport are starting to see their first paychecks in more than a month.

The TSA said most of its officers got most of their backpay Monday for working during the shutdown, including workers at SMF.

James Mudrock, vice president of AFGE Local 1260, said most workers, if not all, had been paid the two full paychecks they missed.

But Mudrock said the partial paycheck had not yet been paid because the Department of Homeland Security was making corrections to it. He said he expected that to be done fairly shortly.

Weary travelers are hoping the overdue paychecks will end the hours-long waits in security at several major U.S. airports.

Wait times began improving when the TSA workers were promised their first paychecks in weeks. Bottlenecks disappeared at airports in Atlanta and Houston on Monday. Houston’s main airport went from a four-hour line just a day ago, to a 10-minute wait.

It remains unknown how long it will take for wait times to normalize — and how long federal immigration officers will maintain a visible presence in airport terminals — as the busy spring break travel season continues.

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the lines. It came after Trump rejected bipartisan congressional efforts to fund the TSA while negotiations continue with Democrats, who have refused to approve more funding without restraints on Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations. The order left other DHS employees unpaid.

Democrats are demanding better identification for the officers, judicial warrants in some cases and for agents to refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places. Republicans and the White House have been willing to negotiate on some points, but the sides have yet to reach a final agreement.

On Monday, there were few signs of progress on Capitol Hill, where the Senate held a short session without considering the House bill and resumed its two-week break. GOP Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota said afterward that Senate Republicans are talking with Democrats and also the House as they try to find a way to fund DHS.

The union again urged Congress to approve funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security. “To say we are utterly disgusted and disappointed with our elected officials is an understatement. Congress must come back to Washington, fix this crisis, and stop putting politics over people and vacation over values,” the union said.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump has offered to host an Easter Dinner at the White House for members of Congress who return to resolve the impasse. As for the Democrats’ demands, she said that despite a change in leadership at DHS with Markwayne Mullin replacing Kristi Noem, “There has not been a change in policy.”

“It has always been the policy of this president and this administration to deport the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals,” Leavitt said.

DHS funding dispute leaves TSA workers unpaid for over 40 days

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