Some airports across the nation began to normalize on Saturday following President Trump’s decision to allocate existing homeland funds to pay TSA workers.
This shift in dynamics arrives after weeks of turmoil in airports, with Congress failing to agree on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, leaving lawmakers to take a two-week break.
Things have improved somewhat thanks to President Trump’s directive for ICE agents to assist with airport security while TSA officials remained unpaid amid ongoing funding disputes.
According to Tom Homan, the White House Border Security Director, “The lines were easing at the airport I went through yesterday. It’s not ideal yet, but we have a plan in place.” He added that more ICE officers are set to complete training soon.
On Saturday, TSA wait times at New York’s airports returned to manageable levels, with LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B reporting just a four-minute wait.
However, it hasn’t been a smooth experience everywhere.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, travelers were still advised to arrive four hours early for their flights.
Meanwhile, at Thurgood Marshall International Airport in Baltimore, individuals faced long waits—up to three hours just to check bags, followed by an additional two-and-a-half to three hours for security, according to WBAL TV.
Deputy Commissioner Ha Nguyen McNeil informed Congress that TSA was experiencing the longest wait times in their history just as spring break travel kicked off.
On Friday, the president signed an order to ensure TSA employees would be compensated, noting, “America’s air travel system is at breaking point. We have identified these situations as emergencies that pose a threat to national security.”
Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s new Homeland Security Secretary, indicated that TSA employees “should expect to start receiving paychecks as early as Monday.”
This action raises hopes that many TSA workers who left or were absent without pay during the shutdown that began on February 14 will consider returning to their posts.
In Congress, while the Senate reached an early morning agreement to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, it excluded funding for ICE.
Though lawmakers intended to manage Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a plan that could pass solely with Republican support, House members ultimately opted to pass their own stop-gap funding proposal for the entire department, which Senate Democrats had previously opposed.
With no resolution achieved, lawmakers exited for a two-week recess ahead of the Easter and Passover holidays.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) remarked, “Their failure to provide pay is a complete shortcoming and reflects the necessity for intervention.” He expressed concerns about the exhaustion and frustration felt by TSA agents.
