{"id":233690,"date":"2026-03-24T05:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T05:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233690\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T05:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T05:10:19","slug":"unpaid-tsa-workers-staff-san-diego-airport-as-paid-ice-agents-arrive-at-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233690\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpaid TSA workers staff San Diego airport as paid ICE agents arrive at others"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump said Saturday<\/a> that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would go to airports to help with security. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security would not confirm whether that includes the San Diego International Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor operational security reasons, we are not going to confirm the locations of our officers,\u201d said DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis.<\/p>\n

Transportation Security Administration workers at the San Diego airport have been working without pay<\/a> since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14, according to Robert Mack, a lead transportation security officer and the chief steward for the TSA workers\u2019 union.<\/p>\n

\u201cStress is at an all time high right now,\u201d he said. \u201cMorale is at an all-time low.\u201d<\/p>\n

This shutdown began just three months after last year\u2019s 43-day shutdown ended<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t recover from that quickly,\u201d Mack said. \u201cThings are getting real tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 400 TSA workers have quit and thousands have called out from work during the shutdown, according to DHS.<\/p>\n

On Monday morning, San Diego airport officials updated travel guidance online<\/a> to suggest that travelers arrive two and a half hours before their flights.<\/p>\n

Matthew Raska and Jessica Thomas took that advice. They flew in from Atlanta on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was way worse,\u201d Thomas said, looking at the Terminal two security line on Monday. \u201cWe were in line for two and a half hours in Atlanta.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reported<\/a> seeing ICE agents at the Atlanta airport on Monday. Thomas said TSA workers are caught in the middle of the federal budget impasse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll workers are important, especially federal employees, and one should not be preferred over the other,\u201d she said. \u201cIf ICE agents are making money working airport security, then TSA agents should be making money working airport security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have refused to fund DHS without changes to certain immigration enforcement policies<\/a>. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are still being paid because the One Big Beautiful Bill allocated billions of dollars to the agency last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council has set up a hardship fund<\/a> for local TSA workers.<\/p>\n

Mack asked airport travelers to be patient as workers do their best. He said the job already takes a lot of concentration.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompounding that with lack of pay, staffing shortages, you’re asking them to do a monumental task,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n