{"id":538149,"date":"2026-03-22T07:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538149\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:06:17","slug":"whats-ahead-as-trump-threatens-to-send-ice-agents-to-airports-while-tsa-workers-go-unpaid-during-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538149\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s ahead as Trump threatens to send ICE agents to airports while TSA workers go unpaid during shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n As a shrinking number of Transportation Security Administration agents work to keep hourslong security lines moving despite not being paid, President Donald Trump stepped into the fray Saturday, announcing<\/a> he will send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to airports by Monday if Congress doesn\u2019t agree to a plan to end the partial government shutdown.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Trump administration has not clarified what shape ICE agents\u2019 roles would take at airports since they\u2019re not trained to perform security screenings, and TSA screeners are required to undergo months of training. CNN has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe president can have (ICE agents) come there but I don\u2019t see how that helps us in getting through this time period,\u201d Atlanta TSA officer and union steward George Borek told CNN, reiterating the need for proper training.\n <\/p>\n

\n As leaders in both parties try to work out a deal<\/a> to fund DHS, which includes 61,000 TSA employees who have been working without paychecks<\/a>, there are few signs the impasse will break soon on Capitol Hill before a scheduled recess.\n <\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s threat comes as hundreds of TSA agents have quit<\/a> amid the funding lapse, frustrated travelers are facing dizzying security checkpoint lines<\/a> at some major airports, and officials are warning<\/a> it could get worse if the standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration enforcement continues.\n <\/p>\n

\n Here\u2019s what lies ahead as chaos and uncertainty continue to cast a shadow over airports across the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s not clear what \u2014 if any \u2014 relief ICE agents could provide for lengthy security wait times, should the president deploy them. The agents could potentially help in limited roles, like managing lines, directing passengers or helping move people through the checkpoint process, to free up trained TSA officers for critical security functions.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s announcement also did not specify to which airports ICE agents might be headed.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bringing in untrained personnel could pose its own problems, Borek said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you bring people in there, they are not trained, they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re looking for, then certainly it could be a problem,\u201d he said. Even trained TSA officers must be recertified after taking medical leave from work for 30 days, Borek said.\n <\/p>\n

\n And as financial strain and low morale push TSA agents off the job, travelers may expect to see continuing lines weaving through some airports.\n <\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

\n For six straight days last week, TSA callout rates hovered above 9% \u2014 with a record 10.22% absentee rate<\/a> set on Monday \u2014 as employees continue working without pay.\n <\/p>\n

\n Impacts for travelers due to the callouts have varied wildly by airport, and unpredictability could continue. More than a third of screeners<\/a> at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were absent last week, forcing passengers to wait in security lines for up to two hours. On Friday, more than half<\/a> of TSA workers called out at Houston\u2019s William P. Hobby International Airport.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Department of Transportation secretary says without a funding bill to end the shutdown, the upcoming week of travel will be worse than ever before.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese are going to be good days compared to what\u2019s going to happen a week from now as America tries to travel,\u201d Secretary Sean Duffy told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper Friday. The travel woes amid hourslong security wait times will look like \u201cchild\u2019s play,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n If the shutdown doesn\u2019t end by Friday, which marks the next payday for TSA workers, the situation \u201cis going to be a lot worse in the weeks to come\u201d as even fewer officers come to work, Borek said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI am actually apologizing to passengers as they come through,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n If the shortage of TSA workers gets worse, it is possible some airports might close completely<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if callout rates go up,\u201d TSA acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl said Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n TSA doesn\u2019t have the power to unilaterally close an airport. But passengers and crews must get screened before they fly, and if there\u2019s no one to do it, travelers will stay grounded.\n <\/p>\n

\n TSA has not stopped all screening at any airport so far during the shutdown, and experts said the agency will exhaust every other possible option before it does.\n <\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, some airports have been largely untouched by the effects of the latest shutdown. At 20 airports<\/a> in the US, security screening is handled not by TSA but by private companies, and their checkpoints are not seeing long lines.\n <\/p>\n

\n Airports like San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Orlando Sanford, and 17 smaller facilities participate in TSA\u2019s Screening Partnership <\/a>Program, which uses contractors at the checkpoints.\n <\/p>\n

\n The partial government shutdown is among three lapses in funding resulting in missed pay for TSA staff over the past six months, shortly following the historic 43-day shutdown late last year and a brief lapse in January.\n <\/p>\n

\n TSA agents working without pay during the busy spring break travel season are poised to continue facing a domino effect of financial hardship behind the scenes, including eviction, empty fridges and overdrawn bank accounts.\n <\/p>\n

\n They remain caught in the middle as Congress is locked in a stalemate over funding. Tens of thousands of TSA employees are making the choice each day to either stay home or show up to work without pay and usher frustrated travelers through their airports.\n <\/p>\n

\n DHS said more than 400 officers have chosen a third option since the start of the shutdown: quitting altogether.\n <\/p>\n

\n Union leaders said some TSA workers chose to quit and many others have taken unscheduled time off since they cannot afford gas or child care needed to go to work.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a shrinking number of Transportation Security Administration agents work to keep hourslong security lines moving despite not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-538149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}