TSA officers haven’t gotten a paycheck since Feb. 14. The vast majority of employees at TSA are considered essential, and roughly 50,000 continue to work without pay. But hundreds have quit or called in sick and absentee rates were two or three times higher in places. While frustrated travellers are calling for TSA agents to be paid, Tom Homan, the White House “border czar”, confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed to U.S. airports on Monday…more
Holman told CNN on Sunday, that the number of ICE agents to be deployed, and how quickly to deploy them, was still under discussion. It was his opinion agents would prioritize airports with long wait times at security.
“This is about helping TSA do their mission, and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can, while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols,” he said. “We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise.”
Donald Trump typically had a different take, saying that agents would “do security like no one has ever seen before,” which would include “the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have come into our Country.”
Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries castigated the idea, “The last thing the American people need is for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports across the country potentially to brutalize or to kill them,” he said, referring to the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis in January.
Travellers ‘grateful’ for unpaid TSA workers
Regardless of politics or destination, American air travellers were unified by one desire Saturday: It’s time to pay Transportation Security Administration employees.
“Everybody has got bills they have to pay, and it’s horrible,” said Patrice Clark, whose trip to Las Vegas began Saturday with a nearly four-hour wait in a security line at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. “Times are hard for everybody at this point. Working and not getting paid and gas prices are extremely high — like everybody needs their money. They need to pay them.”
Saturday marked the 36th day that the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down and TSA officers haven’t gotten a paycheck. Democrats balked at funding the agency, demanding changes to immigration enforcement by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Funding for the whole department failed to advance in the Senate on Friday. On Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to fund TSA. Republicans argue that they need to fund all of the department, not just parts.
Union leaders and federal officials say TSA officers are under financial pressure. Airport screeners have spent nearly half of the past 171 days with paychecks delayed by politics — 43 days last fall during the longest government shutdown in history, four days earlier this year during a brief funding lapse, and now 36 days and counting during the current shutdown.
At least 376 officers have quit since this shutdown began, according to officials, exacerbating turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government’s highest attrition and lowest employee morale.
More than 120,000 DHS employees are working without pay, including roughly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers as negotiations between lawmakers and the White House on limits to immigration enforcement drag on.
The funding lapse comes just months after a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in the nation’s history, which drove long lines at food banks across the U.S. as over 700,000 federal workers worked without pay.
Rules limit what help TSA officers can accept
For those wanting to help, it’s not as simple as going to the airport and giving cash or gift cards directly to TSA officers, who are prohibited from accepting gifts at screening locations, according to a DHS spokesperson.
But Aaron Barker, president of the AFGE Local 554 in Georgia, said TSA officer unions don’t have the same restrictions and can accept donations to distribute to their members. Barker recommends those who want to donate look up their local union district on the AFGE website, or give through their local labor council.
“For some people it can be life or death,” said Barker. “It’s just sad and terrible that this is happening.”
Union members have told Barker they’re unable to cover utility bills or pay for their children’s medical procedures. They’ve received eviction notices or had cars repossessed. They’re having trouble affording routine items, too.
“People don’t think about the things they just naturally have in their home, like toothpaste, bathroom tissue, milk, detergent, dish liquid,” he said. “I’m sure those things are a necessity for every TSA officer.”
Nonetheless, no donation can be as effective as an end to the shutdown. “The first thing they want is their paycheck,” said Barker. “The money is the most immediate need.”
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