As the Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its sixth week, the Trump administration moved to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to 14 major U.S. airports after unpaid Transportation Security Administration officers hit their highest absence rate of the funding lapse.
TSA data showed more than 3,250 officers failed to report for duty on Saturday, pushing the national callout rate to 11.51% since the shutdown began on Feb. 14. DHS has confirmed that more than 400 TSA officers have quit, with nearly half of them carrying more than three years of screening experience.
The breakdown is increasingly showing up in both airport lines and workers' finances. Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said some officers are "sleeping in their cars, drawing blood to afford to pay for gas to get to work."
President Donald Trump said ICE agents would begin reporting to airports starting Monday. The deployment covers hubs including Atlanta, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, O'Hare, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles.
The administration says ICE agents will not replace certified TSA screeners at checkpoints. White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN they would help with crowd control, exit lanes and ID checks so TSA staff could stay focused on screening.
That distinction has not eased criticism from labor leaders and former security officials. AFGE President Everett Kelley said TSA officers "deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be." Former TSA Administrator John Pistole told Axios the worst-case scenario would be an untrained worker missing a threat.
The staffing shortage is already slowing travelers during spring break. Wait times at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson reached two hours on Friday, Houston Hobby recorded a 55% callout rate on one day last week, and Philadelphia International has shut three of its six checkpoints.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on CNBC: "As we get into next week and they're about to miss another payment, this is going to look like child's play."
The shutdown began after Democrats demanded reforms to ICE following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Five votes to restore DHS funding have failed, and Congress is heading toward recess with no deal in sight.
