TSA says airport bottlenecks ease after officers received backpay

Airport bottlenecks eased at U.S. airports Monday after Transportation Security Administration officers began receiving backpay for work during the federal government shutdown, according to the Associated Press. The improvement reduced the most severe security-line congestion, travelers and TSA officials said, as TSA officers moved to resume normal staffing patterns.

At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, checkpoint lines that at times stretched to four hours earlier during the shutdown shrank to waits of 10 minutes or less on Monday, the AP reported. The AP also reported that in other previously troubled airports, including Atlanta and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, travelers were moving more smoothly through security and to their flights.

The backpay, however, did not eliminate all shutdown-related disruptions. Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees and a TSA agent at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, told the union’s leadership that TSA officers received some — but not all — of their back pay, with the remainder expected by next week, the AP reported. Jones said some employees also reported incorrect backpay amounts, including missing overtime, which the union said also needed to be corrected.

Jones said at least one colleague told him the employee was “back to zero” after covering car and housing payments and late fees. While workers were relieved that money had arrived, Jones said they remained concerned that the improvements would not last if the broader shutdown dispute continued and if other pay problems followed.

Jones said, “None of my colleagues feel like they’ve been made whole,” adding that “Their finances are destroyed.” He also described ongoing uncertainty around whether federal immigration officers would maintain a visible presence in airport terminals as the busy spring break travel season continues, according to the AP.

The union and TSA faced a separate set of issues tied to employees who could not work without pay during the shutdown. The AP reported that the TSA updated its furlough policy on Sunday, removing guidance that had allowed officers to request a furlough if they could not report for reasons tied to the shutdown, such as lack of transportation or child care. Acting TSA Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, the AP reported, said “Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out.”

The AP also reported that the union agreed with the general figures Bis described, but said that those who could not afford to report for duty now have “disciplinary actions looming over their heads.” In the union’s view, “Backpay alone does not fix those problems,” the AP reported.

The shutdown’s effects stretched beyond TSA screening operations. The AP reported that TSA employees had gone without pay since DHS funding lapsed in February, and it said warnings of airport closures followed in part because some workers stopped going to work after weeks without pay. The AP said other agencies affected by the latest shutdown included the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Associated Press said President Donald Trump on Friday ordered DHS to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the lines at airports. The AP reported Trump had rejected bipartisan efforts to fund TSA while negotiations over ICE continued with Democrats, who have refused to approve more funding without restraints on Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations.

Democrats, the AP reported, have demanded that ICE agents wear cameras, identify themselves and operate without masks, and that warrants be decided by judges, with raids to avoid schools, churches or other sensitive places. Republicans and the White House, the AP reported, were willing to negotiate on some points, but a final agreement remained elusive.

On Monday, the AP reported, senators held a short session without considering a House bill and then resumed a two-week break. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump had offered to host an Easter Dinner for members of Congress who return to resolve the impasse, and she said “there has not been a change in policy,” adding “It has always been the policy of this president and this administration to deport the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals.”

The AP reported that White House border czar Tom Homan said how long ICE officers deployed to some airports to help with security would stay depends on how quickly TSA employees return to work.