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Airport Delays , ICE May Stay 03/30 06:05
(AP) -- Even after President Donald Trump ordered emergency pay for
Transportation Security Administration agents to ease long security lines,
major U.S. airports on Sunday were still urging travelers to arrive hours early
-- and federal immigration officers brought in to help may not be leaving
anytime soon.
Trump's executive order on Friday instructed the Department of Homeland
Security to pay TSA officers immediately, though it's unclear how quickly
travelers will see an impact. The move comes during a busy travel stretch, with
spring breaks underway and Passover and Easter approaching.
Tens of thousands of TSA employees have been working without pay since DHS
funding lapsed on Valentine's Day. The department's shutdown reached 44 days on
Sunday, eclipsing the record 43-day shutdown last fall that affected all of the
federal government.
Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to some airports a
week ago to help with security as TSA callouts rose nationwide -- the same
officers who may now remain in place if TSA staffing strains continue.
When will ICE's deployment at airports end?
Making the rounds on Sunday morning news shows, White House border czar Tom
Homan said it depends on how many TSA employees would be returning to work
after they start receiving their pay.
"ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We'll be there as
long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like
those airports are secure," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Homan said it also depends on how
many TSA agents "have actually quit and have no plan on coming back to work."
Nearly 500 TSA officers have left the agency since the shutdown started,
according to DHS.
On Saturday night, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a post on X that more ICE
agents were being deployed to Baltimore-Washington International Airport to
assist at TSA security checkpoints to "speed up the clearance process for
passengers -- not immigration enforcement."
When will TSA officers get paid?
Homan, in his CNN interview, said he hopes TSA officers will be paid by
Monday or Tuesday.
"It's good news because these TSA officers are struggling," Homan said.
"They can't feed their families or pay their rent."
Also on Sunday, Charlotte Douglas International Airport said in a post on X
that backpay could arrive for TSA agents beginning Monday.
"While this action provides critical relief, CLT supports long-term
solutions to ensure continued stability for this essential workforce," the
airport said.
Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government
Employees' TSA chapter, said Sunday that he has heard from workers worried they
may not receive their full back pay because TSA management was given very short
notice to begin processing payments. He also said TSA agents are concerned they
could miss pay for time they were unable to work because they couldn't afford
to report for duty.
"It is a disaster in progress," Jones said.
What's the current situation on the ground?
Some of the busiest U.S. airports continued to ask travelers to plan ahead
in order to get through security lines.
Houston's main airport, George Bush Intercontinental, warned Sunday evening
that TSA wait times could reach four hours or longer. Atlanta's
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport also told passengers to arrive at
least four hours early for both domestic and international flights.
LaGuardia Airport posted an alert Sunday evening on its website that "TSA
lines are currently longer than usual."
Baltimore-Washington International Airport said Sunday on X that "wait times
have greatly subsided on this Spring Break Sunday," but it still asked
passengers to show up several hours early. Louis Armstrong International
Airport in New Orleans offered the same guidance.
Also on Sunday, passengers could once again see estimated security wait
times at the three main airports serving the New York City area -- LaGuardia,
John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty.
All three had removed that feature from their websites earlier in the week,
citing "rapid" changes in passenger volumes and TSA staffing. For the same
reason, they cautioned that the restored wait times may not always "reflect
current conditions."
How soon will this help with airport delays?
It's hard to tell.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who runs a travel newsletter
called Gate Access, said the staffing crisis won't improve significantly until
officers are confident that they won't be subjected to more skipped paychecks.
"It has to be an extended pay for them to come back or want to stay there,"
he said, estimating longer lines could linger for another week or two.
Jones, the TSA union leader, offered a more optimistic outlook on Sunday,
saying he's hopeful that passengers could see wait times ease closer to typical
levels once workers are able to afford basic expenses like gas to get to work.
TSA will also have to decide whether to reopen the checkpoints and security
lanes they closed or consolidated at some airports due to inadequate staffing,
which led to passengers standing in screening lines that clogged check-in areas
or showing up far too early for their flights.
A handful of airports have experienced daily TSA officer call-out rates of
40% or higher in recent weeks.
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