Transportation Security Administration agents have not been paid since the Department of Homeland Security entered a partial shutdown in mid-February.
President Donald Trump plans to sign an order that will pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who have not received a check since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered a partial shutdown in mid-February.
“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on March 26.
More than 3,120 TSA agents, who haven’t been paid in weeks, called out on Wednesday, which prompted long lines to continue at airports across the country, according to a statement the DHS shared with The Epoch Times.
“It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!“ Trump added. ”I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports.”
Trump has blamed the Democrats for the DHS shutdown, which started mid-February when the Senate reached a stalemate over Democrats’ proposed changes to immigration enforcement operations as a condition for funding the department.
On March 25, Senate Democrats blocked funding for DHS in a 54–46 vote after Republicans rejected a counteroffer they put forward.
On the same day, Democrats separately offered a standalone bill that would immediately fund TSA, but not ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Republicans blocked the proposal.
TSA acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill warned Congress on Wednesday that some airports in the U.S. could close if the shutdown did not end soon.
The impasse on Capitol Hill has left the pockets of over 50,000 TSA workers empty for weeks. It has caused some TSA agents to accept food donations from charities or sleep in their cars because they couldn’t afford gas money to get to work, according to McNeill.
The financial struggles of TSA workers have prompted a surge of sick calls, resulting in hours-long lines at airport security checkpoints.
The airports that have reported the highest call-out rates since the funding lapse include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) at 40.6 percent, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston with 39.2 percent, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) at 36.1 percent, and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston (HOU) with 32.7 percent, according to data the DHS shared with The Epoch Times on Thursday.
“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,” Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Public Affairs at DHS, told The Epoch Times in a statement on March 26.
The Trump administration deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to 14 airports on March 23 in an attempt to ease understaffed security lines.
By Jacki Thrapp
