By Jacki Thrapp
Contributing Writer
Thousands of Transportation Security Administration agents called out sick on Wednesday, as long lines persisted at airports across the United States due to the ongoing funding impasse affecting the Department of Homeland Security.
“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, child care, food, or rent,” Lauren Bis, the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Public Affairs at DHS, said in a prepared statement on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the TSA experienced a call-out rate of 11.14%, which equated to more than 3,120 agents across the United States.
Airports that experienced the highest call-out rates during the shutdown include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) at 40.6%, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston with 39.2%, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) at 36.1%, and William P. Hobby Airport in Houston (HOU) with 32.7%, according to data the DHS provided on Thursday.
“As Democrats continue to put the safety, reliability and efficiency of our air travel system at risk, [President] Donald Trump is taking decisive action — deploying hundreds of ICE officers, already funded by Congress, to the airports under the greatest strain,” Bis said.
Senate Democrats blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security in a 54-46 vote on Wednesday after Republicans rejected a counteroffer the Democratic Party put forward.
On the same day, Senate Democrats separately offered a standalone bill that would fund TSA immediately, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, as lawmakers continued to debate concerns over the department’s immigration enforcement operations. Senate Republicans blocked this move.
The DHS has been in a partial shutdown since Feb. 13. The lapse of funding has caused staff in agencies under the department to work without pay, including TSA agents.
TSA acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told Congress on Wednesday that if the shutdown does not end soon, airports might close.
“At this point, we have to look at all options on the table,” McNeill said.
“We don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing how we maintain our operations and that does require us to, at some point, make very difficult choices as to which airports we might try to keep open and which ones we might have to shut down as our callout rates increase.”
The Trump administration deployed ICE agents to 14 U.S. airports on Monday to help with security.
The airports that received assistance from ICE agents included ones where long lines were being reported, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The assistance of the ICE agents enabled TSA agents to focus on their specialized work, such as operating X-ray scanning equipment.
The White House also reposted a video on Tuesday showing an ICE agent standing next to a cooler and handing out water to people stuck in long lines.
“Huge thanks to our ICE agents deployed at airports nationwide, helping keep TSA lines moving so Americans can fly safe and on time! True patriots,” the White House stated in the post.
