Airline passengers said the fastest way to address the current DHS shutdown’s impact on air travel is to restore pay to TSA employees, even as the dispute remains tangled in broader negotiations over immigration enforcement. On Saturday, as travelers moved through checkpoints, several of them described the pay delay as “horrible” and said the agency’s workforce needs to be paid while the government continues to debate funding.
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Patrice Clark said her trip to Las Vegas started Saturday with a nearly four-hour wait in a TSA security line, adding that “Working and not getting paid and gas prices are extremely high” and that “They need to pay them.” She said the shutdown has made it harder for families to manage day-to-day expenses, framing the central issue as restoring wages to workers responsible for airport screening.
Democrats have said they are balking at funding the agency as part of the shutdown and demanding changes to immigration enforcement by federal agents after the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, according to the report. TSA officers, travelers and officials said, have been working without a paycheck since the DHS partial shutdown began Feb. 14.
Other travelers described the uncertainty and disruption as uneven across airports, with delays building early and then easing later in the day. Christian Childress, a private flight attendant who sometimes avoids TSA lines when working, said he arrived at the Atlanta airport nearly three hours before his 1:30 p.m. flight to Nashville, Tennessee, describing the shutdown effects as “hit or miss.” He said earlier-arriving passengers were trying to avoid missing flights as delays stretched during the busiest periods.
Childress said TSA pay should be addressed first, telling passengers: “Issue No. 1 should be paying the people who need to get paid and keeping our air travel system secure.” He added that afterward, officials could “debate whatever they want to debate about homeland security.” Other travelers, including Tyrone Williams, said they did not want to “go between the Democrats and the Republicans,” but said Democrats were holding up the shutdown because they “can’t get their way.”
In Atlanta, the report said the checkpoint wait time spiked as high as 90 minutes on Saturday morning before later falling for the afternoon. The report also said staffing shortages have forced some airports to close checkpoints at times, leaving wait times swinging dramatically.
The White House and the Senate continued to trade positions over how to reopen DHS funding. President Donald Trump said Saturday he would order federal immigration officers—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents—to take a role in airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Trump said the agents would bring the administration’s immigration crackdown into airports, arresting “all Illegal Immigrants” with a focus on those from Somalia, writing: “I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, “GET READY.” NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”
The report said funding for the whole department failed to advance in the Senate on Friday after Democrats declined to support a bill. It added that on Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to fund TSA, with Republicans arguing that they needed to fund the entire department, not just parts.
Despite the delays, some passengers said they were grateful for TSA employees who have kept working without pay. Merissa Thomas said she was “so grateful for people who are willing to sacrifice a lot to make sure we’re safe” after arriving in Las Vegas on Saturday following a quick checkpoint at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.
Union leaders and federal officials, the report said, have said TSA officers face financial pressure, with airport screeners spending nearly half of the past 171 days with paychecks delayed by politics. The report cited absences during the lapse, saying roughly 10% of TSA officers missed work nationwide on Thursday, and that absentee rates were two or three times higher in some locations.
Officials also said the unpaid period has worsened staffing churn: the report said at least 376 officers have quit since the shutdown began, adding turnover pressure to an agency that already has had high attrition and low morale. Clark, the traveler whose line delays stretched nearly four hours, said she would change her plans if the dispute persists: “From now on I would drive wherever I have to go until they get this figured out.”