TSA crisis: Nearly 500 officers have quit, and callout rates climb at airports nationwide

The latest proposal to end the Homeland Security shutdown, made by Republican senators, would fund most of DHS but not the immigration enforcement and removal operations. The offer added some new restraints on immigration officers, including the use of body cameras, but excluded Democrat demands such as requirements that federal agents wear identification and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Democrats have received the “last and final” offer from Republicans.

The Transportation Security Agency has warned that it may have to shut down operations at some airports if the budget impasse drags on. In addition to the nearly 500 TSA workers who have quit, 41% of remaining TSA staff have called in sick at Atlanta’s main airport, while 39% have done so at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. TSA employees are facing their second consecutive missed paycheck this week as the standoff reaches 41 days.

Here’s the latest.

How many TSA officers have quit during the shutdown?

Almost 500, according to the latest DHS count.

“This reckless shutdown has driven nearly 500 TSA officers to quit, while thousands more are forced to call out because they can’t afford gas, childcare, food, or rent,” DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said.

Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That’s over 3,120 callouts.

The callout rate was three or four times higher at some airports, DHS said:

• About 41% at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson
• 39% at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental
• 36% at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans
• Nearly 32% at Houston’s secondary airport, William P. Hobby
• Roughly 29% at both New York’s John F. Kennedy and Baltimore-Washington International Airport

Travelers venting frustration over TSA funding impasse

Passengers waiting in Houston’s hours-long airport security lines have plenty of time to vent their frustration with the political impasse that’s left TSA agents unpaid.

“You don’t experience this in a lot of other countries, and I just feel like it’s unacceptable,” said Eche Emole, trying to catch a flight Thursday to Cancun, Mexico, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. “This should not be happening.”

Emole said he was still waiting to clear security after three hours in line.

James Person, flying to Knoxville, Tennessee, said the waiting crowds had been friendly. And he praised the airport staff, TSA agents and immigration officers brought in by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help bolster security.

“I’m just really upset with Congress for not doing their job to fund DHS so we can get rid of this mess,” Person said.

Senate scheduled to vote this afternoon on advancing the DHS funding measure

But without a deal between Democrats and Republicans, it’s unlikely that any legislation on the shutdown will advance. There have been multiple failed votes in the Senate in recent weeks.

Some passengers missing or postponing Houston flights after hours in line

Some travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston say they’re missing flights after spending hours in security lines.

Melissa Gates said she wouldn’t make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2 and a half hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint.

She said no other flights were available until Friday, so she planned to spend the night at the airport.

“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said of her 260-mile (418-kilometer) trip to Baton Rouge. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”

Jimmy Hidalgo had better luck. Still waiting to clear security after nearly three hours, he managed to bump his flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to a later departure.

“I changed it already for the next flight,” Hidalgo said, noting he didn’t have to pay extra. “But now I’ll have to sit in the middle seat.”

New DHS secretary Mullin attends his first Cabinet meeting

Trump opened the meeting by noting the presence of Markwayne Mullin, who was sworn in Tuesday as the Department of Homeland Security’s new secretary.

The president also noted that “we’re now on Day 41” of the shutdown of DHS, which has meant TSA agents at airports have been working without pay. That has led passengers to wait for hours to clear security before their flights.

“Congratulations,” Trump told Mullin. Everyone else laughed. Trump blamed the shutdown on Democrats, who have been pushing for procedural changes for immigration and customs operations. Negotiations continue to break the impasse.

Trump said “they need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’ll have to take some very drastic measures.” He already has sent some ICE officers to airports as backup for TSA.

Long security lines in Atlanta extend outside airport

Travelers arriving early Thursday to catch flights in Atlanta found long security lines extending outside the main terminal.

Photos and video posted to social media from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport showed lines winding through the baggage claim area, outside the doors and down the sidewalk outside.

The airport wasn’t reporting estimated wait times to clear security checks. But its website said travelers should allow themselves four hours to clear security amid the political impasse that’s left TSA agents without pay.

4-hour waits return to Houston after a midweek lull

Passengers are facing more four-hour waits to clear security at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston following a brief respite.

The airport’s website said Thursday morning that travelers should expect to wait two hours, 30 minutes in the security line at one of its open terminals and four hours at the other.

That’s after waits dipped to two hours or less Wednesday, which airport officials attributed to fewer people flying midweek.

Lines and wait times are expected to grow Thursday and Friday because of “significantly higher passenger traffic,” according to an update on the airport’s website.

That’s in part because of some major events coming to Houston, including a large global energy conference and two of the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 games.

A Houston airport has become a symbol for the shutdown’s impacts on air travel

Passengers are facing more four-hour waits to clear security at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston following a brief respite.

The airport’s website said Thursday morning that travelers should expect to wait two hours, 30 minutes in the security line at one of its open terminals and four hours at the other.

That’s after waits dipped to two hours or less Wednesday, which airport officials attributed to fewer people flying midweek.

Lines and wait times are expected to grow Thursday and Friday because of “significantly higher passenger traffic,” according to an update on the airport’s website.

That’s in part because of some major events coming to Houston, including a large global energy conference and two of the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 games.

A Houston airport has become a symbol for the shutdown’s impacts on air travel

While long security lines have hobbled airports across the U.S., the problems at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston have been more pronounced.

Frustrated travelers at the city’s largest airport have confronted warnings of four-hour wait times to get through security.

Union and airport officials have offered a variety of reasons why Bush Intercontinental seems to be worse than other airports:

• It has one of the highest callout rates of TSA workers in the country
• It has higher passenger traffic, since the airport is a major hub for United Airlines
• It’s a busy tourism month for Houston

What ICE officers are doing at airports

ICE officers who are helping TSA at airports that are struggling with long passenger lines are helping with things like crowd control and verifying passengers’ identities using TSA equipment, according to a DHS spokeswoman.

“After receiving standard TSA training curriculum, ICE officers are guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, doing crowd control, and verifying identification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures,” said Lauren Bis. “The more support we have available, the more efficiently TSA can focus on their highly specialized screening roles to efficiently get airport security lines moving faster.”

Bis said she could not give details on how many ICE officers had been deployed to assist TSA or which airports they were stationed at due to operational security concerns.

Over 480 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown

Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting TSA administrator, told lawmakers that multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates and more than 480 transportation security officers have now quit during the shutdown.

She cited the growing financial strain on the TSA workforce.

“Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public,” she said.

McNeil also said TSA officers working at the nation’s airports have experienced a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began.

“This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated,” McNeill said.

Trump suggests using the National Guard at airports, raising legal questions

President Donald Trump said on social media Wednesday that he may deploy the National Guard to help at airports plagued by long security lines.

Trump said, “I may call up the National Guard for more help” after already ordering federal immigration agents to assist with security at airports.

Joseph Nunn, a legal scholar focused on domestic military activities at the Brennan Center for Justice, said Trump could likely make it work by asking governors to send in state troops who haven’t been federalized. They could perform law enforcement duties such as running X-ray machines and checking identification.

“If a governor doesn’t do that, it will limit his options,” Nunn said.

Troops federalized by the president couldn’t perform duties similar to those of security screeners because of the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws, Nunn said.

FEMA is also at risk

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is “rapidly depleting,” Victoria Barton, a FEMA external affairs official, told lawmakers.

FEMA is able to continue its disaster response and recovery work as long as that fund has money, and about 10,000 of its disaster workers continue being paid through it.

What Congress is saying about the negotiations

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that they needed to see real changes. “We’ve been talking about ICE reforms from day one,” he said.

Republican leaders said Democrats are putting the country at risk. “They know this is crazy,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

But conservative Republicans also panned the proposal, demanding full funding for immigration operations and skeptical of the promise from GOP leaders that they would address Trump’s proof-of-citizenship voting bill in a subsequent legislative package.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said late Wednesday that if Democrats put a “more realistic offer on the table, we’ll be back in business.”

DHS has gone without routine funding since mid-February

Democrats are insisting on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests.

The latest GOP proposal would fund most of DHS except for the enforcement and removal operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that have been central to the debate. The plan would provide money for other aspects of ICE as well as Customs and Border Protection.

While the offer added some new restraints on immigration officers, including the use of body cameras, it excluded other policies that Democrats have demanded, such as requirements that federal agents wear identification and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places.

TSA boss warns of airport shutdowns

The Transportation Security Administration may have to shut down operations at some airports if the budget impasse drags on, the agency’s acting head said Wednesday, even as record wait time for travelers did little to end the standoff over the funding fight in Congress.

The TSA’s Ha Nguyen McNeill described the mounting hardships facing unpaid airport workers — piling up bills and eviction notices, even plasma donations to make ends meet — and warned that lawmakers must ensure “this never happens again.”

“This is a dire situation,” she testified at a House hearing, warning of potential airport closures. “At this point, we have to look at all options on the table. And that does require us to, at some point, make very difficult choices as to which airports we might try to keep open and which ones we might have to shut down as our callout rates increase.”

—By Ashraf Khalil