EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)– While travelers at major airports like New York\u2019s LaGuardia face long security lines, TSA agents in El Paso are continuing to report to work without pay, helping avoid similar disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, even during the holidays, it\u2019s not like that,\u201d said Karen Gershowitz, describing the unusually long lines she encountered at LaGuardia Airport earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lines for TSA were wrapped all around the terminal,\u201d she said. \u201cI managed to get through fairly quickly because I had pre-check and I was in a wheelchair. And even with that, it took a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
The delays come as Transportation Security Administration agents nationwide work through staffing shortages during a prolonged funding stalemate in Congress over the Department of Homeland Security. As the impasse stretches on, many TSA employees have gone without pay.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Ochoa, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1050, which represents TSA workers in New Mexico and El Paso, said the situation has taken a toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir morale is low and they feel like political pawns,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cThey\u2019re being held hostage and not receiving paychecks because of something that has nothing to do with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges, Ochoa said agents in El Paso continue to show up \u2014 a key reason travelers there are not seeing the same long lines reported elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in El Paso, we\u2019re not seeing those long lines because workers are showing up despite not getting paid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some workers are making significant personal sacrifices to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have members that are sleeping in their cars because they can\u2019t afford the gas to get back and forth to work,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re afraid not to come to work because they don\u2019t want to be fired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ochoa said many agents remain committed to their mission despite the hardship.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy members took an oath to the Constitution, as did every other TSA employee around the country,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are committed to that, and to keeping the American public safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
For travelers, the uncertainty means planning ahead is more important than ever \u2014 though even that may not guarantee a smooth experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know what to tell people,\u201d Gershowitz said. \u201cIn New York, they\u2019ve been saying allow for at least three hours, and I don\u2019t think three hours would be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)– While travelers at major airports like New York\u2019s LaGuardia face long security lines, TSA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-213665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}