(SeaPRwire) – Even after President Donald Trump authorized emergency pay for Transportation Security Administration agents to alleviate lengthy security lines, major U.S. airports on Sunday continued to urge travelers to arrive several hours ahead of their flights — and the federal immigration officers brought in to assist might not depart anytime soon.
Trump’s executive order issued Friday directed the Department of Homeland Security to compensate TSA agents right away, though it remains unclear how soon travelers will notice a difference. This action comes amid a busy travel period, with spring break in full swing and Passover and Easter on the horizon.
Tens of thousands of TSA workers have been on the job without pay since DHS funding expired on Valentine’s Day. The agency’s funding lapse hit 44 days on Sunday, surpassing the 43-day record government shutdown that occurred last fall.
Trump sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to select airports one week prior to assist with security screenings as TSA absentee rates surged across the country — these same officers could now stay on duty if TSA staffing shortages persist.
When will ICE’s deployment at airports end?
Appearing on Sunday morning news programs, White House border director Tom Homan stated that the timeline depends on how many TSA workers return to their posts once they begin receiving their pay.
“ICE is here to support our fellow TSA colleagues. We will stay for as long as they need us, until they resume normal operations and confirm that the airports are secure,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Homan noted that the timeline also hinges on how many TSA agents have officially resigned and have no intention of returning to their jobs.
Per DHS data, roughly 500 TSA agents have resigned since the funding lapse began.
When will TSA officers get paid?
During his CNN interview, Homan shared that he hopes TSA agents will receive their pay by Monday or Tuesday.
“This is positive news because these TSA agents are facing financial hardship,” Homan noted. “They cannot afford to put food on the table or cover their rent.”
Also on Sunday, Charlotte Douglas International Airport shared in a post on X that retroactive pay for TSA agents could start arriving as early as Monday.
“While this step offers vital relief, CLT backs long-term fixes to maintain consistent stability for this critical workforce,” the airport stated.
Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA local chapter, said Sunday that he has heard from workers anxious that they might not get their full retroactive pay, since TSA leadership was given very little advance notice to start processing the payments. He also noted that TSA agents are worried they could lose pay for hours they could not work because they could not afford to commute to their shifts.
“This is a developing disaster,” Jones remarked.
What’s the current situation on the ground?
Some of the busiest U.S. airports continued to advise travelers to arrive several hours before their scheduled departure to make it through security checkpoints.
Houston’s primary airport, George Bush Intercontinental, issued a warning Sunday evening that TSA wait times could hit four hours or more. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport also instructed passengers to arrive no less than four hours early for both domestic and international flights.
LaGuardia Airport shared an alert on its website Sunday evening stating that “TSA lines are currently longer than normal.” A separate advisory on the site noted that wait times “can shift rapidly.”
Baltimore-Washington International Airport shared Sunday that “wait times have improved significantly this Spring Break Sunday.” Still, the airport urged passengers to arrive several hours ahead of their flights. Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans provided the same recommendation Sunday.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore shared in a post on X Saturday evening that additional ICE agents were being sent to BWI to help at TSA security checkpoints, “to speed up the passenger screening process — not to conduct immigration enforcement.”
How soon will this help with airport delays?
There is no clear answer yet.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a retired TSA officer who operates the travel newsletter Gate Access, noted that the staffing shortage will not improve substantially until agents are certain that they will not face missed paychecks again.
“They need consistent, guaranteed pay to return to their jobs or remain in their roles,” he stated, projecting that long security lines could persist for another one to two weeks.
Jones, the TSA union official, offered a more positive assessment Sunday, sharing that he is hopeful passengers will see wait times drop closer to normal levels once workers can cover basic costs like fuel to commute to their shifts.
TSA will also need to decide whether to reopen security checkpoints or speed up service lanes that were closed or merged at airports due to understaffing — a problem that caused passengers to wait in long screening lines, clog check-in areas, or arrive excessively early for their flights.
A small number of airports have seen daily TSA absentee rates hit 40% or more. DHS reported Friday that across the U.S. on Thursday, over 11.8% of scheduled TSA employees failed to show up for work, the highest rate yet recorded.
This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content.
Category: Top News, Daily News
SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.